<iKlU  l.i^ 


BR    121    .C78    1918 

Cross,  George,  1862-1929 

What  is  Christianity? 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  COMPANY 

NEW  V'iKK 

THE  J.  K.  GILL  COMPANY 

PORTLAND,  OREUON 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON  AND  EDINBURGH 

THE  MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISnA 

TOKYO,  OSAKA,  KYOTO,  FUKDOKA,  SENDAI 

THE  MISSION  BOOK  COMPANY 

SHANOnAI 


WHAT  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 


A  STUDY  OF 
RIVAL  INTERPRETATION-  ^ 


BY 


IV 


GEORGE  CROSS 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


Copyright  1918  By 
The  University  of  Chicago 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Published  April  1918 


Composed  and  Trlnted  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago.  Illinois,  U.S.A. 


TO   MY  WIFE 


PREFACE 

The  aim  of  this  work  is  to  assist  the  intelligent  Chris- 
tian layman  and  the  minister  of  the  gospel  who  have  felt 
the  need  of  revising  their  doctrinal  inheritance  to  reach 
a  more  satisfactory  interpretation  of  the  Christian  faith. 
Everyone  who  has  taken  the  pains  to  acquaint  himself 
in  any  tolerable  degree  with  the  effects  which  the  adop- 
tion of  the  methods  of  modern  science  in  many  fields  of 
theological  investigation  has  produced  in  the  minds  of 
great  numbers  of  students  for  the  ministry  must  be  aware 
of  the  imperativeness  of  thinking  through  afresh  the 
essential  problems  of  theology.  In  no  department  of 
Christian  thought  is  this  imperativeness  more  evident 
than  in  the  subject  of  apologetics.  The  older  works  on 
this  subject,  notwithstanding  the  splendid  philosophic 
ability  exhibited  in  many  of  them,  demonstrably  fail  to 
meet  the  most  insistent  questions  of  our  times.  The 
discussions  presented  in  this  volume  are,  in  the  mind  of 
the  author,  preparatory  to  a  statement  and  vindication 
of  the  truth  of  the  Christian  religion.  They  do  not  con- 
stitute a  formal  introduction  to  such  a  task,  as  anyone 
can  easily  see.  But  it  is  hoped  that  a  survey  of  the  best- 
known  types  of  the  Christian  faith  will  assist  the  inquir- 
ing reader  to  reach  at  least  a  point  of  view  from  which  his 
work  of  formulating  a  theology  for  himself  may  begin. 

What  is  here  written  is  the  fruit  of  a  great  many  years 
of  reading  and  reflection  combined  with  the  searching 
experiences  of  the  classroom.    In  order  that  the  work 

vii 


viii  Preface 

might  be  reasonably  brief  there  has  been  a  general  avoid- 
ance of  digression,  however  great  the  temptation  at 
times,  and  the  statements  made  are  very  condensed,  on 
the  whole.  But  I  trust  that  the  style  is  sufficiently 
popular  to  enable  the  reader  who  is  unskilled  in  the 
technique  of  formal  theology  to  read  the  book  with  some 
satisfaction. 

The  contents  of  the  volume,  excepting  the  last 
chapter  and  such  slight  revisions  as  seemed  necessary, 
have  already  appeared  as  a  series  of  articles  in  the 
Biblical  World.  My  thanks  are  due  to  the  publishers 
of  this  journal  for  their  consent  to  the  publication  of 
them  in  book  form. 

George  Cross 

Rochester,  New  York 
December  21,  191 7 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction i 

CHAPTER 

I.  Apocalypticism 3 

i.  The  Origin  of  Jewish  Apocalypticism      ....  10 

2.  Principal  Features  of  Jewish  Apocalypticism     .  17 

3.  Apocalypticism  in  Early  Christianity       ....  22 

4.  Apocalypticism  in  Catholic  and  Protestant  Creeds  30 

5.  Value  of  Apocalypticism 33 

II.  Catholicism 38 

1.  Catholicism  as  a  Type  of  Religious  Life  ....  41 

2.  Catholicism  as  a  Type  of  Morality  or  a  Form  of 

Conduct 47 

3.  Catholicism  as  an  Institutional  System  or  a  Church  53 

4.  Catholicism  as  a  Philosophy  or  Body  of  Doctrines  57 

III.  Mysticism 60 

1.  The  Appearing  of  Mysticism  in  Historical  Chris- 

tianity            ....  68 

2.  Outstanding  Characteristics  of  Christian  Mysticism  75 

3.  The  Method  of  Christian  Mysticism        ....  79 

4.  The  Strength  and  the  Weakness  of  Mysticism  in 

Christianity 8$ 

IV.  Protestantism 87 

1.  Historical  Sources  of  Protestantism 91 

2.  The  Protestant  Religious  Spirit 97 

3.  The  Protestant  Estimate  of  Human  Life — Its  Moral 

Outlook 103 

4.  Protestantism  as  a  Theory  of  Truth — Its  Doctrinal 

Standards no 

5.  Protestantism  on  Its  Institutional  Side   .      .     .     .  113 

ix 


x  Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

V.  Rationalism 115 

1.  Rationalism  in  Historical  Christianity     .      .      .      .  122 

2.  The  Principles  and  Dogmas  of  Rationalism       .      .  131 

3.  A  Brief  Estimate  of  Christian  Rationalism  .      .      .  140 

VI.   EVANGEL1CISM    OR    MODERNIZED    PROTESTANT    CHRIS- 
TIANITY          144 

1.  Some    Constructive   Religious   Forces   in   Modern 

Christianity 144 

2.  Some  Secular  Forces  Contributing  to  the  Formation 

of  a  New  Type  of  Christianity 151 

3.  The  Influence  of  Recent  Attempts  to  Understand 

Christianity 158 

4.  A  Characterization  of  Evangelicism 166 

VII.  What,  Then,  Is  Christianity  ?        172 

Bibliography 205 

Index 211 


INTRODUCTION 

Christianity  is  the  name  commonly  given  to  the 
religion  that  came  into  existence  through  the  career  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  and  professedly  preserves  his  char- 
acter to  this  day.  Christianity  is  a  religion;  that  is,  the 
name  stands  for  a  way  in  which  men  seek  unitedly  to 
come  into  communion  with  the  eternal  and  invisible,  a 
way  in  which  they  attempt  to  enter  into  happy  relations 
with  the  Supreme  Being.  It  is  a  historical  religion;  that 
is,  it  had  its  beginnings  at  a  definite  period  of  human  life 
in  this  world  and  the  course  of  its  progress  from  age  to 
age  is  traceable.  It  is  a  religion  whose  votaries  aim  at 
honoring  the  worth  of  him  from  whom  it  sprang  by  call- 
ing themselves  by  a  name  that  designates  his  supreme 
place  among  men — Christ,  Anointed  of  God,  Sent  of 
Heaven,  King  of  their  Hearts — Christians,  Christ-ones. 

When  the  historian  unfolds  before  our  eyes  the  man- 
ner in  which  this  mighty  spiritual  movement  has  spread 
throughout  the  world  and  continued  through  the  cen- 
turies, our  attention  is  transfixed  and  our  thought  is 
challenged.  What  is  it?  What  does  it  mean?  Its 
phenomena  are  so  vast  and  so  varied  and  its  followers 
have  differed  so  much  among  themselves  that  at  times 
one  is  tempted  to  say  that  there  is  often  little  or  nothing 
more  than  the  name  in  common.  Yet  even  the  posses- 
sion of  a  common  name  is  significant.  The  name  may 
supply  the  clue  to  the  true  interpretation  of  its  character. 
At  any  rate,  for  the  intelligent  man  the  attempt  to  inter- 
pret it  is  inevitable. 


2  What  Is  Christianity  ? 

The  interpretation  of  Christianity  is  not  exclusively 
the  work  of  the  scholar  and  philosopher.  For  the  home 
of  this  religion  has  not  been  mainly  in  the  high  places  of 
human  life  but  more  especially  in  the  lives  of  the  common 
people.  They  have  given  the  most  abundant  inter- 
pretation. The  conscious  interpretation  of  it  by  the 
professional  thinker  is  dependent  on  the  popular,  half- 
involuntary,  half-conscious  interpretation  that  is  offered 
in  the  ways  of  the  masses  of  believers — their  spontaneous 
religious  speech,  acts  of  worship,  songs,  prayers,  modes  of 
conduct,  customs  of  assembly,  and  methods  of  organiza- 
tion.    The  thinker  must  try  to  account  for  these  things. 

The  interpretations  of  Christianity  that  have  ap- 
peared are  numerous.  In  our  survey  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  pass  by  many  that  are  of  only  minor  interest 
and  limit  our  study  to  the  great  outstanding  types.  We 
shall  select  six — Apocalypticism,  Catholicism,  Mysticism, 
Protestantism,  Rationalism,  and  Evangelicism.  These 
overlap  and  mingle,  of  course,  but  they  are  sufficiently 
distinct  to  stand  apart  in  our  study. 


CHAPTER  I 
APOCALYPTICISM 

It  is  related  in  the  Gospel  of  Mark  that  at  a  critical 
point  in  his  career  "Jesus  asked  his  disciples,  saying  unto 
them,  Who  do  men  say  that  I  am  ?  And  they  told  him, 
saying,  John  the  Baptist;  and  others,  Elijah;  but  others, 
One  of  the  prophets.  And  he  asked  them,  But  who  say 
ye  that  I  am?  Peter  answereth  and  saith  unto  him, 
Thou  art  the  Messiah"  (Greek,  Christ). 

These  are  momentous  words,  for  they  record  the  first 
historic  confession  of  the  Christian  faith.  It  seems  to 
have  risen  spontaneously  to  the  lips  of  the  disciple  when 
the  Master's  great  question  was  asked  and  he  spoke  with 
the  evident  assurance  that  he  was  uttering  the  convic- 
tion that  bound  him  and  his  companions  together  in  a 
common  allegiance  and  a  common  hope.  Here,  there- 
fore, we  date  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Here,  for  the  first  time,  the  followers  of  the  Nazarene 
were  consciously  differentiated  from  the  rest  of  men  by 
their  unanimous  trust  in  his  mission.  Here,  too,  for  the 
first  time,  Jesus  was  placed  outside  the  category  of  com- 
mon men,  even  of  the  highest  and  best  of  them,  and 
assigned  a  unique  place  in  the  world.  What,  more 
precisely,  that  place  should  be  was  as  yet  vaguely 
conceived  in  the  minds  of  his  followers.  The  colloquy 
that  follows  Peter's  confession  reflects  a  clash  of  ideas 
on  the  subject  among  his  disciples  from  the  outset. 
The    controversy  about   him   that   has   continued   for 


4  What  Is  Christianity? 

centuries  was  then  at  its  beginning,  and  the  end  of  it 
is  not  even  yet  in  sight. 

Among  the  many  Christian  confessions  that  rise  up 
as  way-marks  along  the  road  of  Christian  history,  Peter's 
confession  enjoys  a  pre-eminence,  and  that  for  a  better 
reason  than  its  priority  in  time.  For  it  has  always  been 
and  still  remains  the  most  popular  of  them  all.  In  this 
stock  confession  of  Christendom  subject  and  predicate 
have  become  so  closely  united  that  the  two  words,  Jesus 
and  Christ,  regularly  stand  together  as  a  single  personal 
name.  Moreover,  this  confession  is  the  parent  of  all  the 
others.  For  they  are  all  enlargements  or  modifications 
of  it,  and  they  indicate  the  manner  in  which  faith  in  the 
messiahship  of  Jesus  has  infused  a  new  meaning  into 
beliefs  that  arose  at  first  independently  of  it.  We  can 
say — for  we  see  it  now  as  it  was  impossible  for  those 
early  disciples  to  see  it — that  the  Petrine  confession 
marked  the  rise  of  a  new  religion  among  men.  It  did 
not  seem  so,  I  say,  at  the  time.  For  to  say  that  Jesus 
was  the  Christ  seemed  at  first  simply  to  say  that  through 
him  was  to  come  the  realization  of  the  Jewish  hope. 
But  the  actual  outcome  was  vastly  different  from  what 
anyone  could  have  anticipated.  For  it  was  only  a  little 
while  before  the  new  faith  found  itself  in  violent  conflict 
with  the  Judaism  out  of  whose  bosom  it  sprang.  A 
dramatic  account  of  that  conflict  appears  in  the  early 
chapters  of  the  Acts  and  is  reflected  by  anticipation,  as 
it  were,  upon  the  accounts  of  Jesus'  career.  The  root 
of  the  controversy  lay  in  the  question  whether  the 
faith  in  Jesus  did  not  represent  the  true  Judaism.  And 
now,  after  the  lapse  of  all  the  intervening  centuries,  it  is 
still  an  open  question  whether,  after  all,  it  was  not  mis- 


Apocalypticism  5 

leading  to  call  Jesus  the  Christ.  Did  not  Peter's  con- 
fession introduce  into  the  minds  of  Jesus'  followers  a 
misconception  of  the  character  and  purpose  of  Jesus? 
In  assigning  to  him  the  character  and  the  purpose  of  the 
Jewish  Messiah  did  it  not  pervert  his  true  aim  and  theirs  ? 
And  has  not  the  Christian  faith  been  burdened  with 
beliefs  in  consequence  from  which  it  still  seeks  relief? 
This  is  in  part  the  subject  of  our  present  discussion. 

The  significance  of  the  primitive  confession  that 
Jesus  was  the  Messiah  is  to  be  perceived  only  by  refer- 
ence to  the  whole  circle  of  ideas  to  which  the  term 
belongs.  For  the  story  of  the  origin  and  development 
of  Jewish  Messianism  the  reader  must  be  referred  to 
the  works  of  specialists,  to  whom  of  late  we  owe  a  great 
increment  of  knowledge  on  the  subject.  It  is  not 
possible  in  the  present  connection  to  do  more  than  indi- 
cate in  a  general  manner  the  conditions  and  conceptions 
out  of  which  it  sprang.  Jewish  Messianism  is  a  promi- 
nent feature  of  a  specifically  Jewish  philosophy  which 
men  have  called  Apocalypticism.  Jewish  Apocalyp- 
ticism is  a  modification,  under  the  influence  of  the  Jewish 
religious  spirit,  of  a  widespread,  if  not  universal,  oriental 
philosophy  of  the  universe  and  of  human  life.  The 
character  of  this  philosophy  we  shall  expound  more  fully 
presently.  The  thing  we  wish  to  point  out  just  now  is 
that  the  effect  of  the  adoption  by  Jesus'  followers  of 
Peter's  confession  was  to  carry  Jewish  Messianism  over 
into  the  new  Christian  community  and  thereby  bring 
the  minds  of  Christians  so  directly  under  the  power  of 
Jewish  Apocalypticism  that  it  became  naturalized  in 
their  interpretation  of  their  new  faith.  That  is  to  say, 
Christians  found,  first  of  all,  in  the  formulas  of  Jewish 


6  What  Is  Christianity? 

Apocalypticism  a  body  of  ideas  by  which  they  were 
enabled  to  express  to  themselves  and  to  others  the  sig- 
nificance and  worth  of  the  personality  and  career  of 
Jesus.  Christian  Apocalypticism  is  a  Jewish  heritage. 
The  conceptions  by  which  the  religious  Jew  was  wont 
to  set  forth  his  hopes  for  the  future  were  transferred 
to  the  Christian  mind  and  became  the  instruments  of 
its  self-expression.  This  was  quite  natural  at  a  time 
when  the  great  body  of  believers  in  Jesus  came  of  Jewish 
stock.  But  the  union  of  Christian  faith  and  Jewish 
philosophy,  which  was  so  natural  to  men  of  the  pharisaic 
type  of  mind,  has  continued  to  the  present  day  when  the 
naturalness  of  it  is  no  longer  clear.  We  shall  see  that, 
like  so  many  other  marriages,  it  has  been  both  for  better 
and  for  worse.     Its  fruit  is  mingled  evil  and  good. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  fact  that  conceptions  that 
were  formerly  distinctively  Jewish  have  obtained  a 
powerful  hold  on  many  other  peoples  and  races  and 
have  maintained  their  hold  on  them  for  long  centuries 
creates  a  presumption  that  these  conceptions  must  have 
belonged  originally  to  mankind  at  large  or,  at  least,  have 
borne  such  a  likeness  to  prevailing  conceptions  among 
other  peoples  that  the  transition  from  one  to  the  other 
must  have  been  easy  and  natural.  The  comparative 
study  of  religions  has  confirmed  the  presumption.  We 
were  formerly  trained  so  thoroughly  in  the  belief  that 
the  Jews  were  most  especially  a  people  separate  from  all 
others  that  we  forgot  they  were  the  natural  heirs  of 
ecumenical  traditions.  The  Jews  were  but  a  single 
branch  of  the  Israelitish  people,  the  Israelites  of  the 
Hebrews,  the  Hebrews  of  the  Semites,  and  the  Semites 
of  the  stock  of  that  ancient  humanity  whose  story  has 


Apocalypticism  7 

been  mostly  lost  to  us.  The  Jews  were,  therefore,  the 
natural  heirs  of  the  traditions  of  many  races,  whatever 
traditions  they  may  have  had  that  were  peculiarly  their 
own.  Their  likeness  to  the  common  Semitic  stock,  at 
least,  was  much  more  marked  than  their  unlikeness. 
Then,  too,  their  geographical  location  in  Palestine,  that 
ancient  battle-ground  of  many  mighty  peoples,  brought 
them  into  close  contact  with  the  great  complex  of  experi- 
ences and  ideas  that  constituted  the  culture  of  the 
ancient  world.  Their  acquisitiveness  as  a  people,  com- 
bined with  their  individuality,  enabled  them  to  stamp  the 
traditions  that  had  flowed  down  to  them  from  many 
sources  with  their  own  distinctive  characteristics.  This 
inheritance  of  theirs  became  woven  through  and  through 
with  their  monotheism  and  their  highly  moral  concep- 
tions of  the  nature  of  the  Deity  and  of  man's  relation  to 
him  and  then,  through  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews,  was 
given  to  the  world.  This  position  is  thoroughly  con- 
firmed by  the  critical  study  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures  and 
the  recovery  of  the  knowledge  of  ancient  mythology. 
It  may  not  be  possible  to  disentangle  completely  the 
different  strands  that  have  been  woven  into  the  Jewish 
Scriptures,  yet  it  is  perfectly  plain  to  the  discriminating 
student  that  much  of  the  folklore  and  mythology  that 
belonged  to  other  nations  recurs  in  the  Old  Testament, 
but  has  been  transformed  there  by  the  higher  spirit  that 
was  given  to  the  Jews. 

Now  the  striking  thing  about  the  traditions  of  primi- 
tive culture  is  the  similarity  of  the  main  strands  of  their 
folklore  and  their  myths  even  when  the  various  peoples 
concerned  were  far  separated  in  time  and  distance  and 
without  apparent  contact  with  one  another.    The  peoples 


8  What  Is  Christianity? 

that  were  able  to  establish  stable  governments  over 
large  territories  and  to  secure  the  safety  essential  to  the 
growth  of  the  higher  forms  of  culture  wrought  up  these 
primitive  stories  into  literary  and  philosophic  forms,  but 
did  not  obliterate  their  original  features,  so  that  the 
link  of  connection  between  the  cruder  and  the  finer  cul- 
ture of  antiquity  has  been  preserved.  Their  underlying 
unity  is  discernible.  The  general  themes  of  these  ancient 
constructive  efforts  of  the  human  mind  are  the  same 
everywhere.  They  all  reflect  in  highly  dramatic  and 
realistic  form  the  effect  produced  upon  the  spirits  of  men 
by  the  constant  struggle  with  the  powers  of  material 
existence.  They  tell  the  story  of  the  destructive  fury 
of  malignant  forces  that  assail  men  and  also  the  story 
of  deliverance  from  these  foes.  Their  interest  was  not 
so  very  different  from  the  interest  with  which  we  today 
pursue  our  study  of  the  world  and  of  man,  namely,  the 
aim  to  realize  the  highest  well-being.  But  the  place 
which  is  taken  by  abstract  ideas  in  our  present  philoso- 
phies was  occupied  by  realistic,  semi-personal  creations 
of  the  ancient  mind.  In  what  we  are  pleased  to  call — 
in  less  marked  anthropomorphic  form — the  impersonal 
forces  of  nature,  men  of  old  saw  the  operations  of  living 
beings.  What  we  figuratively  describe  as  the  battle  of 
the  elements  they  regarded  as  the  actual  encounters  of 
real  animate  existences  possessed  of  passions  like  ours. 
Whether  we  turn  to  the  mythology  of  the  Egyptians, 
Chaldeans,  Assyrians,  Iranians,  Indians,  or  Greeks,  the 
interest  is  the  same,  namely,  the  framing  of  an  account 
of  the  origin  of  the  woes  and  the  blessings  of  men  through 
the  operations  of  what  we  call,  somewhat  blankly, 
"nature,"  but  what  they,  in  part,  personalized. 


Apocalypticism  g 

These  mythologies  present  three  outstanding  features 
in  common:  First  of  all,  prominence  is  given  to  the 
material  forces  against  which  men  seem  to  have  struggled 
so  often  in  vain — stormy  seas,  raging  floods,  torrential 
rains,  earthquakes,  and  fires.  These  forces  working 
harm  to  hapless  men  are  viewed  as  great  monsters  of 
transcendent  might,  say,  a  great  dragon  or  a  serpent 
in  the  deep  or  in  the  sky.  Sometimes  by  a  fusion  of 
traditions  these  monsters  were  multiplied.  Secondly, 
human  experiences  of  deliverance  from  these  baneful 
forces  are  pictured  as  the  beneficent  deeds  of  some  great 
hero,  generally  more  distinctly  human  in  form  than  were 
these  dangerous  beings,  but  still  superhuman.  These 
saviors  of  men  throttle  and  subdue  the  evil  powers  and 
rescue  men  from  sufferings  and  calamities  by  a  higher 
control  of  cosmic  forces.  Thirdly,  there  was  a  repre- 
sentation of  a  Golden  Age  in  the  distant  past  when  men 
were  without  their  present  trials,  and  for  the  return  of 
that  age  they  fondly  hoped.  Perhaps  we  should  say 
that  this  was  not  so  much  a  memory  of  the  past  as  an 
anticipation  of  the  future  reflected  upon  the  past  and 
held  as  a  ground  of  encouragement  for  the  future. 

Here  is  a  pictorial  philosophy  so  widespread  among 
the  ancients  that  it  seems  to  be  native  to  men.  It  consti- 
tutes a  view  of  things  that  is  both  a  cosmic  philosophy 
and  a  philosophy  of  salvation.  It  sets  forth  the  three 
main  forms  of  experience  in  which  men  become  aware  of 
their  universal  kinship.  First,  their  sufferings  and  mis- 
fortunes are  due  to  forces  too  mighty  for  them  to  master 
or  control  unaided.  Secondly,  there  is  deliverance  from 
these  trials  through  intervention  from  on  high,  and  with 
this  goes  the  sense  of  dependence  on  a  Savior-friend. 


io  What  Is  Christianity? 

Finally,  there  is  the  hope  of  an  ideal  state  to  come,  but 
founded  from  the  beginning  of  human  life — a  heaven,  a 
paradise.  These  three  features  are  found,  indeed,  in  all 
religions,  and  they  remind  us  that  there  never  has  been, 
as  there  never  can  be,  a  religion  that  does  not  embrace 
in  the  end  a  philosophy  of  all  being. 

What  has  all  this  to  do  with  Peter's  confession  that 
Jesus  was  the  Messiah  ?  Much  in  every  way,  but  prin- 
cipally because  in  effect  the  confession  connected  the 
career  of  Jesus  hopefully  with  those  universal  human 
feelings  of  need  and  longing  for  deliverance  of  which  we 
have  spoken,  and  because  it  made  him  personally  the 
bearer  of  that  deliverance.  It  placed  Jesus,  in  effect, 
at  the  very  heart  of  all  the  distracting  problems  that 
press  for  human  solution  and  declared  that  he  could 
supply  the  answer  to  them.  To  be  sure,  Peter  could 
scarcely  have  been  even  dimly  aware  of  this  at  that  time. 
The  confession  was  purely  Jewish  in  its  conscious  pur- 
port. It  pronounced  Jesus  a  purely  Jewish  deliverer, 
and  the  disciples  were  very  slow  to  perceive  afterward  a 
larger  meaning  in  their  faith,  but  none  the  less  it  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  universalization  of  the  Christian 
faith,  because  the  Jewish  messianic  hope  was  the  uni- 
versal human  hope  intensified,  purified,  and  exalted 
through  the  peculiar  experiences  of  the  Jewish  people. 
A  few  words  must  now  be  said  in  further  explanation  and 
justification  of  this  statement. 

I.   THE   ORIGIN  OF  JEWISH  APOCALYPTICISM 

It  was  suggested  above  that  in  earlier  stages  of 
their  life  as  a  people  the  Israelites  were  so  much  like  to 
the  surrounding  peoples  in  character  that  it  would  be 


A  pocalypticism  1 1 

difficult  to  distinguish  the  qualities  that  made  them 
excel.  But  in  course  of  time,  under  the  leadership  of 
those  men  of  deep  moral  insight  and  moral  vision  we  call 
the  prophets,  they  grew  to  be  a  nation  enjoying  as  their 
distinctive  dignity  the  consciousness  of  a  relation  to  their 
God  fundamentally  different  from  that  relation  which 
other  peoples  conceived  they  bore  to  their  gods.  For 
while  the  popular  view  of  the  relation  between  the 
peoples  and  their  gods  was  that  of  consanguinity  or  phys- 
ical kinship,  and  while  this  inevitably  involved  the  god 
in  each  case  in  the  fate  of  his  people,  in  the  view  of  the 
prophets  the  national  existence  of  Israel  was  based  upon 
a  mutual  covenant  between  him  and  them  to  which,  in 
the  end,  every  individual  Israelite  was  a  partner.  Thus 
the  basis  of  their  national  life  was  moral  rather  than 
physical,  because  the  covenant-relation  is  established  by 
an  act  of  choice  rather  than  by  physical  necessity.  This 
also  made  the  continuance  of  their  God  Jahwe's  protec- 
tion of  them  dependent  on  their  obedience  to  the  terms 
of  that  covenant.  Out  of  this  relation  arises  the  idea  of 
law.  It  is  quite  in  keeping  with  this  whole  conception 
that  the  prophets  should  constantly  insist  that  the  test 
of  all  action,  both  national  and  personal,  was  found  in 
the  law  of  their  God,  and  that  their  well-being  depended 
on  their  obedience  to  it.  To  attempt  to  trace  the  effects 
of  this  belief  upon  the  spiritual  life  of  the  whole  nation 
would  carry  us  too  far  afield  for  our  present  purposes, 
but  it  is  easy  to  understand  how  from  this  point  of  view 
there  grew  up  in  the  minds  of  the  people  the  conviction 
of  the  superiority  of  their  God  to  all  other  gods  and  at 
the  same  time  the  sense  of  their  own  superiority  to  other 
peoples.     The  corollary  of   such  a   conviction   is   the 


12  What  Is  Christianity? 

persuasion  of  their  own  indestructibility  as  a  people. 
Other  peoples  might  perish,  but  they  could  not  because 
their  God  was  above  all  gods.  It  was  this  belief  that  bore 
them  up  in  their  times  of  fearful  struggle  with  nations  or 
empires  of  far  greater  material  power  than  they,  and  that 
gave  them  confidence  that  they  should  survive  all  defeats 
and  be  more  than  conquerors  in  the  end.  It  was  in  sup- 
port of  this  confidence  that  the  prophets  reinterpreted  the 
popular  lore  of  the  race  from  the  earliest  ages  with  a  view 
to  showing  that  the  course  of  all  the  peoples  and  of  the 
material  world  from  the  beginning  was  directed  in  con- 
formity with  the  purpose  of  God  to  select  Israel  as  a 
people  for  himself  and  to  give  them  ultimate  supremacy 
over  all  others.  With  this  object  in  mind  they  continu- 
ally offered  forecasts  of  a  day  of  deliverance  and  triumph 
to  come. 

The  eyes  of  the  prophets  were  therefore  upon  the 
future.  For  them  the  true  Golden  Age,  even  if  at  times 
they  did  idealize  the  past,  was  yet  to  come.  It  seems 
that  the  people  were  fond  of  speaking  of  the  coming 
"  Day  of  Jahwe"  when  he  should  triumph  for  them  over 
their  enemies  and  his.  The  prophets  were  able  to 
impart  a  profoundly  moral  character  to  this  prospect. 
Their  predictions  of  blessing  for  Israel  in  that  day 
were  interspersed  with  warnings;  for  while,  as  the 
people  thought,  it  was  to  be  a  day  of  judgment  on  all 
nations,  it  was  not  less  to  be  a  day  of  judgment  for 
Israel  as  well.  It  would  bring  retribution  for  the 
wicked  as  well  as  reward  for  the  righteous.  And  that 
meant  that  there  was  to  be  a  distinction  made  within 
Israel  as  truly  as  a  distinction  between  Israel  and 
other  peoples.     Indeed,  in  some  prophetic  utterances 


A  pocalypticism  1 3 

the  principle  of  righteous  judgment  seems  to  be  applied 
indiscriminately  as  respects  the  different  nations.  Thus 
there  rose  up  in  the  prophetic  mind  the  overpowering 
conception  of  a  great  Judgment  Day  for  the  vindication 
of  righteousness  among  all  men — one  of  the  great  spirit- 
ual gifts  of  Israel  to  the  world. 

It  might  be  expected  that  the  successive  overthrow 
of  the  Northern  and  Southern  kingdoms  of  the  Israelitish 
people,  their  captivity  in  foreign  lands,  their  pitiable 
weakness  on  the  economic  side,  and  their  political  hope- 
lessness would  strain  this  fundamental  conviction  to  the 
breaking-point.  That  they  survived  their  downfall, 
that  in  the  minds  of  many  of  the  people  of  Judah  their 
sense  of  moral  superiority  remained  unimpaired,  and 
their  confidence  in  the  ultimate  salvation  of  the  righteous 
stood  firm,  is  one  of  the  miracles  of  history.  The  effect 
of  their  bitter  experiences  was  to  intensify  the  confidence 
of  the  pious  Jew  in  the  power  of  his  God.  The  darker 
their  material  and  political  outlook,  the  more  fervent 
became  their  religious  faith  and  hope.  The  Day  of 
Jahwe  would  most  surely  come,  but  the  deliverance  it 
would  bring  should  not  be  accomplished  by  the  sword 
of  Judah,  but  by  the  irresistible  intervention  of  their 
God  from  on  high.  The  day  of  judgment  upon  man- 
kind should  be  a  day  of  salvation  for  the  suffering 
righteous. 

It  is  evident  that  the  misfortunes  of  these  people 
occasioned  a  vast  revolution  in  their  religion.  The 
destruction  of  the  monarchy  upon  which  the  prophets 
had  devoted  so  much  of  their  energy  in  an  attempt  to 
keep  the  kings  true  to  the  higher  faith,  the  obliteration 
of  the  political  state,  the  exile  from  the  land  that  they 


14  What  Is  Christianity? 

called  the  land  of  Jahwe,  the  ruination  of  their  sanctu- 
aries and  of  the  worship  there,  led  to  a  spiritualization  of 
their  religious  belief;  the  contact  with  Babylonian  and 
Persian  civilization  broadened  their  horizon.  A  new 
world  on  high  was  opened  to  the  eye  of  their  imagination, 
and  a  vaster  world  on  the  earth  spread  before  them. 
And  consequently  a  new  destiny  lay  beyond.  Their 
God  no  longer  dwelt  in  the  temple  made  with  hands  or 
even  in  the  land  of  Palestine  but  in  the  high  heaven  above 
them.  They  learned  from  Babylon  and  Persia  to  people 
that  heaven  with  exalted  beings  whose  nature  was  suited 
to  the  invisible  better  world,  and  whose  business  it  was 
to  act  as  the  messengers  of  the  unseen  God  and  carry  out 
his  decrees  on  earth.  All  the  so-called  gods  were  no 
gods  at  all.  The  evident  hopelessness  of  a  struggle  with 
the  mighty  empires  whose  power  was  made  manifest  to 
them  every  day,  and  the  fading  character  of  all  material 
prosperity,  turned  their  minds  to  the  heaven.  There 
the  pious  Jew  fixed  his  gaze,  and  while  the  hope  of  a 
restoration  of  the  earthly  kingdom  of  Israel  still  lingered, 
the  progress  of  events  tended  to  give  to  this  earthly 
kingdom  more  and  more  a  miraculous  character  while  it 
should  last;  but  it  came  to  be  conceived  by  many  a  Jew 
as  having  only  a  limited  duration  and  as  destined  to 
give  place  to  a  kingdom  in  the  heaven  that  should  last 
forever. 

A  new  interest  was  henceforth  taken  in  the  present 
and  future  state  of  the  dead.  The  old  view  that  all  men 
went  to  one  place  and  met  the  same  fate  and  that  the 
present  life  was  the  scene  of  all  punishment  and  reward 
passed  with  the  passing  of  confidence  in  the  perpetuity 
and  worth  of  a  political  kingdom  on  earth  and  the  rise 


Apocalypticism  15 

into  prominence  of  the  distinction  of  righteous  and 
unrighteous  within  the  nation.  The  righteous  must 
have  a  place  in  the  new  kingdom.  If  that  kingdom  was 
to  be  ushered  in  by  a  judgment,  then  there  must  be  a 
judgment  for  the  'dead  as  well  as  for  the  living.  The 
idea  of  a  resurrection  of  the  dead  came  as  a  consolation 
to  those  who  contended  for  the  supremacy  of  righteous- 
ness; and  with  this  the  old  idea  of  Sheol,  as  the  final 
abode  of  all  indiscriminately,  gave  way.  Sheol  could 
no  longer  be  a  place  of  hopelessness  for  all,  or  if  Sheol 
was  the  place  of  the  wicked  there  must  be  another  abode 
for  the  righteous,  though  it  was  difficult  to  say  where 
it  should  be  before  the  resurrection.  With  this  new 
interest  in  the  dead  arose  many  speculations  and  guesses 
about  the  unseen  regions.  There  was  no  unanimity  of 
opinion.  But  new  regions  began  to  appear — Heaven, 
Paradise,  Sheol,  Gehenna,  were  distinguished,  but  their 
relations  were  obscure.  Whether  there  was  to  be  a 
resurrection  of  all  the  dead  for  judgment  or  a  resurrec- 
tion of  the  righteous  only  was  uncertain.  With  the 
incoming  of  Greek  influence  came  a  doubt  of  the  reality 
or  value  of  any  resurrection  or  of  any  material  kingdom. 
There  was  a  tendency  to  spiritualize  everything  and  to 
fix  attention  upon  the  hope  of  a  life  eternal  in  a  purely 
spiritual  world;  but  this  view  was  probably  that  of  the 
few.  Yet  amid  all  the  differences  of  speculation  there 
stood  out  clearly  the  firm  belief  in  a  coming  universal 
judgment  and  end  of  the  world.  The  latter  was  usually 
conceived  as  ushered  in  by  a  fire  which  should  destroy 
the  present  order  of  things  and  the  wicked  with  it. 

There  is  one  feature  in  this  development  of  the  Jewish 
religious  spirit  that  claims  our  special  interest,  namely, 


1 6  What  Is  Christianity? 

the  expectation  of  the  coming  of  a  King-Messiah.     In 
the  earlier  prophetic  delineation  of  the  glory  of  the  com- 
ing kingdom  there  appeared  from  time  to  time  pictures 
of  an  ideal  king  through  whom  their  God  would  establish 
the  power  and  prosperity  of  his  people.     The  destruction 
of  the  two  kingdoms  and  the  subsequent  exile  rendered 
the  fulfilment  of  the  prophetic  hope  a  physical  impos- 
sibility.    The  nationalism  of  which  the  prophets  were 
the  spokesmen  gradually  faded  away  with  the  experi- 
ences of  the  captivity.      It  became  to  a  large  extent 
unnecessary.     For  the  nationalism  of  the  prophets  was 
too  narrow  for  those  who  gained  the  universalistic  out- 
look upon  the  world  and  the  spiritual  interpretation  of 
things  that  came  through  contact  with  the  larger  gentile 
views  of  existence.     A  great  modification  of  the  mes- 
sianic expectation  became  necessary  if  it  was  to  survive 
and  minister  to  the  religious  life  of  men.     The  Messiah 
must  take  on  a  character  in  keeping  with  the  new  views 
of  the  world  and  of  salvation.     A  mere  son  of  David 
could  never  fulfil  the  functions  of  a  Judge  of  all  mankind 
and  of  the  Ruler  of  a  kingdom  that  came  from  heaven. 
He  must  be  a  heavenly  being  and,  like  the  kingdom,  must 
also  descend  from  heaven  to  earth.     Would  he  not  live 
and  reign  forever  ?     But  here  again  there  was  much  con- 
fusion.    The  old  and  the  new  mingled  as  the  new  seers 
sought  to  connect  their  new  views  with  the  old  prophetic 
declarations.     Sometimes  the  temporal  kingdom  receives 
no   recognition   whatever,    but   all   is   heavenly.     The 
Messiah  of  such  a  kingdom  would  be  a  heavenly  and 
eternal  being.     At  one  time  (in  Second   Enoch)   it  is 
said  that  the  kingdom  will  last  a  thousand  years,  or 
again  (in  Fourth  Esdras)  that  it  will  last  four  hundred 


Apocalypticism  17 

years — corresponding  to  the  four  hundred  years  in 
Egypt — but  the  Messiah  was  to  die  at  the  close.  Some- 
times the  expectation  of  a  Messiah  is  entirely  wanting, 
and  Jahwe  himself  is  the  immediate  deliverer  of  his 
people  and  Judge  of  the  world.  The  Messiah  is  at  one 
time  a  mighty  monarch  ruling  all  nations  in  righteous- 
ness, and  again  he  is  a  co-sufferer  with  his  people.  Thus 
nationalism  and  universalism,  materialism  and  spiritual- 
ism, were  mingled  in  the  post-exilian  life  of  the  Jews,  and 
the  minds  of  the  people  were  divided. 

In  this  rude  survey  of  the  spiritual  development  of 
the  Jewish  people  we  have  covered  many  centuries  and 
reached  the  times  of  Jesus  himself.  The  advent  of  Jesus 
and  his  message  to  the  world,  directly  or  through  his 
disciples,  were  contemporary  with  the  later  phases  of 
this  evolution.  While,  therefore,  Peter's  confession  that 
Jesus  was  Messiah  connects  Jesus  with  the  ideas  out- 
lined above,  it  does  not  determine  which  of  these  various 
and  conflicting  views  of  the  character  of  the  coming 
kingdom,  of  the  manner  of  its  establishment,  and  of  the 
end  of  the  world  were  uppermost  or  even  present  in  the 
minds  of  his  followers.  This  much,  however,  is  plain — 
that  the  new  faith  obtained  the  formulas  of  its  expression 
through  the  conceptions  whose  development  we  have 
sought  to  outline.  We  shall  now  attempt  to  state  why 
we  have  described  this  view  of  things  by  the  term 
Apocalypticism. 

2.   PRINCIPAL  FEATURES   OF  JEWISH  APOCALYPTICISM 

The  contact  with  Babylonian  and  Persian  culture  in 
the  earlier  period  following  upon  the  destruction  of  the 
Jewish  state  and  the  contact  with  Greek  culture  in  the 


x8  What  Is  Christianity  ? 

later  period — to  mention  only  the  most  important  for- 
eign influences — gave  a  powerful  stimulus  to  the  Jewish 
intellect  and  vastly  widened  its  horizon.     Babylonian 
astrology  and  Persian  dualism  gave  to  the  Jews  a  new 
knowledge  of  the  world,  and  Grecian  thought  gave  them 
a  new  view  of  its  meaning.     This  intellectual  expansion 
was  accompanied  by  a  deepening  of  their  moral  and 
religious  life.     This  came  to  them  as  a  consolation  for 
their  terrible  losses.     Two  real  worlds,  the  heaven  and 
the  earth,  besides  the  shadowy  realm  of  Sheol,  or  the 
underworld,  now  came  into  view.     Man  is  of  the  earth, 
and  his  days  are  few.     But  Jahwe  God  is  in  the  high 
heaven  above  all  earthly  things  and  free  from  all  earthly 
contingencies.     There    he    lives    and    reigns    eternally. 
Superhuman  beings  serve  him  there.     He  rules  also  on 
the  earth,  and  the  angels  of  his  power  go  forth  from  his 
presence  bearing  his  decrees  and  effecting  his  purposes 
on  the  earth.     All  events  that  occur  on  the  earth  are 
determined  in  advance  in  heaven.     So  to  say,  that  which 
took  place  on  earth  was  first  enacted  in  heaven  and  must 
inevitably  come  to  pass.     If  men  could  but  enter  heaven, 
or  if  the  veil  that  separates  heaven  from  earth  could 
be  withdrawn  for  a  time,  men  would  be  able  to  see 
beforehand    the    things   which   are    to    come    to  pass. 
What  is  true  of  the  earth  is  also  true  of  the  under- 
world, for  Jahwe  is  lord  there  also  and  predetermines 
the  fate  of  its  denizens.     Thus  there  lies  before  men 
the  possibility  of  obtaining  a  knowledge  of  the  distant 
future. 

The  possibility  becomes  an  actuality.  The  new 
world  becomes  the  basis  of  a  new  view  of  human  knowl- 
edge.    Men  have  actually  witnessed  the  lifting  of  the 


Apocalypticism  19 

veil  between  heaven  and  earth.  There  have  been  apoca- 
lypses, revelations,  of  those  things  that  happen  in  heaven. 
Men  have  had  visions  of  that  realm  and  they  have  heard 
voices  speaking  to  them  from  it.  The  disclosures  that 
came  to  men  in  this  way  are  not  to  be  classed  with  things 
that  they  learn  in  the  ordinary  manner.  The  sight  and 
the  hearing  they  enjoyed  were  special  gifts  bestowed 
upon  the  few.  They  were  the  seers,  the  prophets  of 
their  God.  This  knowledge  was  not  merely  natural  but, 
as  we  are  accustomed  to  say,  supernatural,  miraculous. 
It  was  certain  that  they  who  obeyed  the  heavenly  vision 
should  infallibly  be  blessed.  The  word  that  came  from 
heaven  could  not  fail. 

Moreover,  the  apocalypses  disclosed  the  secret  causes 
of  the  events  for  whose  coming  believers  were  to  look  so 
hopefully.  They  belonged  to  the  same  order  as  the 
knowledge  concerning  them.  They  were  not  brought 
about  through  the  normal  working  of  those  things  we  see 
about  us,  but  by  the  special  act,  the  determining  will,  of 
God.  Apart  from  this  they  could  not  happen.  If  God 
thus  intervened  by  his  mighty  power  to  bring  to  pass 
things  that  would  be  otherwise  impossible,  then  the 
tremendous  events  which  the  seers  were  now  foretelling 
and  which  seemed  so  contrary  to  expectation — the 
descent  of  the  Messiah  from  heaven,  the  resurrection 
from  the  dead,  the  assembling  of  all  mankind  for  judg- 
ment, the  burning  of  the  world  and  the  wicked  with  it, 
and  the  creation  of  a  new  world  for  the  righteous  or  the 
taking  of  them  up  into  heaven — would  surely  occur. 
Here,  then,  their  religious  faith  found  its  firm  support. 
With  such  a  basis  of  confidence  an  oppressed  and  impov- 
erished people  could  bid  defiance  to  all  the  powers  of  this 


20  What  Is  Christianity? 

world  or  the  world  beneath.  These  are  the  themes  of 
the  Jewish  apocalyptic. 

It  is  a  very  striking  feature  of  those  Jewish  apoca- 
lypses which  have  been  committed  to  writing  that  they 
are  all  pseudonymous.  The  writers  conceal  their  per- 
sonal authorship  under  the  name  of  some  accredited 
prophet  or  worthy  of  the  past.  Such  names  as  Enoch, 
the  Twelve  Patriarchs,  Solomon,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah, 
Daniel,  Ezra,  are  attached  to  the  apocalypses.  What  is 
the  secret  of  this  self-effacement?  It  could  not  have 
been  simply  a  means  of  avoiding  the  danger  of  identifica- 
tion which  is  often  so  real  to  the  writers  among  an 
oppressed  people.  It  must  have  been  mainly  for  the 
sake  of  securing  for  their  messages  the  credence  that 
attached  to  the  utterances  of  men  who  were  commonly 
regarded  as  special  messengers  of  their  God — men  who 
had  seen  the  heavenly  things  and  spoke  by  the  spirit  of 
Jahwe.  That  is  to  say,  the  authors  of  the  Jewish  apoca- 
lyptic firmly  believed  that  their  own  utterances  were 
revelations  from  heaven,  visions  given  by  God,  and  they 
sought  to  persuade  their  readers  of  the  same  by  attribut- 
ing their  works  to  men  in  whom  the  people  already 
believed.  This  brings  out  another  very  interesting 
fact  related  to  the  production  of  Jewish  apocalyptic. 
We  shall  indicate  it. 

The  apocalyptic  writings  cover,  roughly  speaking, 
a  period  of  time  stretching  from  the  second  century 
before  Christ  to  the  end  of  the  first  Christian  century. 
The  events  of  the  times  before  the  captivity  were  now 
far  back  in  the  past.  The  common  tendency  among  men 
to  idealize  the  past  was  accentuated  among  the  Jews  of 
these  later  days  through  the  contrast  with  their  former 


A  pocalypticism  2 1 

condition.  Those  patriotic  statesmen  of  the  former 
days  who  gave  a  moral  interpretation  of  Israel's  history 
and  attempted  to  direct  the  policy  of  the  state  by  their 
forecasts  of  coming  changes  were  now  among  the  national 
heroes.  They  had  foretold  the  things  that  had  come  to 
pass.  They  were  inspired  of  Jahwe.  They  had  had 
visions  of  the  heavenly  things.  The  things  which  eye 
saw  not  and  ear  heard  not  and  which  entered  not  into 
the  heart  of  the  common  man  had  been  revealed  to  them. 
If  the  prophets  had  foretold  the  things  which  had  already 
come  to  pass,  why  should  they  not  also  have  foretold  the 
things  which  were  even  yet  to  come  ?  And  so  the  new 
seers,  believing  that  they  too  had  visions  given  them  by 
God,  disclaimed  all  honor  for  themselves  and  ascribed 
their  experiences  to  the  acknowledged  sages  of  the  past 
in  order  to  establish  the  hearts  of  the  people  in  the  con- 
fidence that  the  things  which  they  had  seen  in  vision 
were  really  about  to  occur.  This  use  of  the  works  of  the 
ancient  prophets  was  possible  through  the  collection  of 
their  writings  by  the  learned  and  devout  scribes  of  the 
people.  They  had  not  hesitated  to  attach  the  names  of 
known  prophets  to  writings  whose  authorship  was  un- 
known in  order  to  preserve  those  works  and  secure  for  the 
whole  body  of  the  collected  writings  the  veneration  that 
would  insure  the  loyal  obedience  of  the  people.  That 
is  to  say,  the  scribes  had  already  made  a  virtual  canon  of 
scripture,  a  collection  of  the  utterances  of  men  whose  word 
was  the  word  of  God,  the  words  of  men  who  were  given  a 
knowledge  inaccessible  to  others.  Jewish  Apocalypticism 
leans  for  support  upon  a  canon  of  inspired  scripture. 

We  may  now  briefly  summarize  the  results  of  our 
study  to  this  point.     First,  Jewish  Apocalypticism  is  an 


22  What  Is  Christianity? 

outcome  of  the  doctrine  of  a  dual  world,  the  earth  and 
the  heaven  above  the  earth.  There  was  also  a  shadowy 
underworld  obscurely  related  to  the  heaven,  but  like  it 
in  that  it  was  ordinarily  invisible.  Secondly,  it  was  a 
doctrine  of  the  predetermination  of  all  events  by  the 
irresistible  decretive  will  of  God,  a  doctrine  of  divine 
predestination.  Thirdly,  it  was  a  doctrine  of  human 
knowledge  of  future  events  by  means  of  supernatural 
vision,  a  theory  of  the  knowledge  of  the  invisible. 
Fourthly,  it  was  a  universalistic  interpretation  of  human 
history  in  contrast  with  the  narrower  nationalism  of  the 
ancient  prophets,  and  it  thereby  carried  with  it  the 
enfranchisement  of  the  individual.  Finally,  Apoca- 
lypticism offered  a  moral  interpretation  of  all  human 
history.  Everything  was  viewed  from  the  standpoint 
of  a  universal  and  final  day  of  judgment  (the  idea  of  a 
canon  of  inspired  scripture  is  intimately  associated  with 
Apocalypticism,  but  is  not  essential  to  it).  If  these 
things  are  so,  Apocalypticism,  so  far  from  being  a  degen- 
erate offspring  of  prophetism,  was  the  very  flower  of 
prophetism  and  brings  the  era  of  Jewish  prophecy  to  a 
close. 

3.   APOCALYPTICISM  IN  EARLY  CHRISTIANITY 

We  turn  once  more  to  the  Pe trine  confession.  The 
pronouncement  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  while  it  did 
not  determine  which  of  the  many  different  views  that 
were  current  in  Jewish  apocalyptic  was  to  become  the 
Christian  view,  did  finally  interpret  the  mission  of  Jesus 
through  the  general  apocalyptical  view  of  the  world  and 
of  human  life.  Apocalyptic  became  the  native  air  in 
which  early  Christianity  lived  and  breathed.     It  pro- 


Apocalypticism  23 

vided  for  the  new  age  the  answer  to  the  question  of  the 
meaning  of  the  career  of  Jesus,  his  relation  to  the  all- 
determining  will  of  God,  and  his  relation  to  the  destiny 
of  mankind  universally.  Apocalyptic  became  for  Jewish 
believers,  and  to  a  large  extent  for  generations  of  gentile 
believers  after  them,  the  determinate  mode  of  expressing 
the  Christian  faith.  So  closely  do  the  cast  of  thought 
in  the  Jewish  apocalyptic  and  the  prevailing  thought  in 
the  New  Testament  coincide  that  to  the  reader  who  is 
unacquainted  with  the  Jewish  Apocrypha,  and  whose 
knowledge  of  these  ancient  people  is  drawn  wholly  from 
the  Old  and  the  New  Testament,  it  must  have  seemed, 
as  he  read  the  foregoing  account  of  the  character  of 
Jewish  Apocalypticism,  that  it  was  derived  directly  from 
the  New  Testament. 

The  books  of  our  New  Testament  came  almost 
entirely,  if  not  altogether,  from  the  hands  of  Jewish 
believers  in  the  messiahship  of  Jesus,  and  they  are 
addressed  to  readers  most  of  whom  are  presupposed  to 
be  familiar  with  Jewish  thought.  So  far  as  the  general 
type  of  thought  is  concerned,  nothing  stands  out  more 
prominently  than  the  fact  of  our  having  before  us  there 
a  Christian  recast  of  the  Jewish  apocalyptic.  This  is  a 
matter  that  claims  our  attention  somewhat  in  detail. 

First  of  all,  the  New  Testament  is  thoroughly  charged 
with  the  consciousness  of  the  contrast  between  two 
worlds,  heaven  and  earth  (with  also  a  vague  recognition 
of  a  real  lower  world  different  from  both) .  The  contrast 
turns  in  favor  of  the  heaven.  The  interest  and  hope  of 
believers  are  concentrated  there.  The  presence  and 
activity  of  God  on  earth  and  among  men  do  not  alter 
the  fact  that  he  is  pre-eminently  in  heaven.    The  words 


24  What  Is  Christianity? 

of  the  invocation  so  dear  to  all  Christendom  make  it 
indisputable:  "Our  father  which  art  in  heaven,  hal- 
lowed be  thy  name."  From  thence  came  the  Christ  to 
earth  and  thither  he  has  returned,  to  come  a  second  time. 
Whether  it  be  Matthew  or  Paul  or  John  who  speaks,  it  is 
the  same.  The  conception  is  more  or  less  realistic  in  all, 
and  the  very  foundation  of  the  Christian  hope  seems  at 
times  to  lie  there.  Believers'  expectations  of  future 
blessedness  are  made  to  depend  on  the  reality  of  that 
heaven,  for  they  hope  to  be  raised  from  their  graves  or 
to  ascend  from  the  surface  of  the  earth  at  the  coming  of 
Christ  to  be  with  him— though  this  is  not  the  invariable 
way  of  putting  it,  and  sometimes  the  language  seems  to 
be  symbolic  rather  than  literally  descriptive. 

The  denizens  of  these  worlds  are  clearly  distinguished, 
and  for  the  most  part  easily  recognized.  Angels  of  God 
from  heaven  frequently  appeared  to  the  sight  of  believ- 
ing men,  speaking  to  them,  assisting  them  in  their  tasks 
or  ministering  to  their  comfort  and  well-being.  Demons 
from  the  lower  world  were  also  banefully  active  every- 
where, afflicting  men  with  ills  or  deceiving  and  beguiling 
them  into  sin — though  there  are  no  references  to  their 
visibility.  Life  is  sometimes  represented  as  a  constant 
battle  with  these  hidden  foes,  for  while  their  home  was 
in  the  underworld  their  operations  were  on  the  earth  or 
even  in  the  heights  above  where  the  good  angels  are. 
Hence  the  moral  conflicts  in  which  men  were  engaged 
might  appear  as  pitched  battles  with  monstrous  spiritual 
forces  in  the  higher  regions.  As  Paul  puts  it— "Our 
wrestling  is  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against  the 
principalities,  against  the  powers,  against  the  world- 
rulers  of  this  darkness,  against  the  spiritual  hosts  of 


A  pocalypticism  2  5 

wickedness  in  the  heavenly  places."  What  a  dignity 
and  grandeur  was  thereby  attached  to  our  human,  moral 
struggles !  Jesus  had  the  angels  of  God  at  his  command, 
and  to  him  and  his  followers  they  rendered  service.  It 
will  not  do  to  call  this  mere  religious  rhetoric,  for  in  those 
times  it  all  seemed  very  real. 

So  profoundly  impressed  were  these  first-century 
believers  with  the  reality  of  their  heritage  in  that  higher 
world  that  the  hope  of  the  messianic  kingdom,  which 
they  had  inherited  from  the  Jews,  was  conceived  no 
longer,  after  the  manner  of  the  prophets,  as  growing  up 
out  of  better  moral  conditions  on  the  earth,  but  as  the 
expectation  of  a  city-state  that  should  descend  to  earth 
out  of  the  skies  after  the  evil  world  had  been  destroyed. 
The  imagery  of  the  New  Testament,  when  these  themes 
are  discussed,  is  most  impressive.  For  vividness  and 
magnificence  these  portrayals  have  never  been  excelled. 
And  no  wonder,  because  the  stake  was  the  most  momen- 
tous possible.  No  effort  was  spared  to  excite  and  sustain 
the  expectation  of  a  speedy  apocalypse  of  the  Redeemer 
from  on  high.  Striking  references  to  this  hope  are  found 
almost  everywhere.  We  quote  a  single  passage  from 
one  of  the  letters  of  Paul:  "For  our  citizenship  is  in 
heaven:  from  whence  also  we  look  for  a  Saviour,  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ:  who  shall  fashion  anew  the  body  of 
our  humiliation,  that  it  may  be  conformed  to  the  body 
of  his  glory,  according  to  the  working  whereby  he  is  able 
even  to  subject  all  things  to  himself." 

When  we  turn  to  the  accounts  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  gospel  was  proclaimed  from  the  first  the  apocalypti- 
cal cast  of  thought  is  equally  manifest.  Visions,  dreams, 
voices,   and    visitants    from   the    heavenly   realm   are 


26  What  Is  Christianity  ? 

frequent  accompaniments  of  the  early  preaching.  These 
were  the  seals  of  the  divine  authority  of  the  message. 
Thus  it  is  no  cause  of  surprise  if  the  conceptions,  convic- 
tions, and  reasonings  of  the  speakers  and  writers  were 
often  viewed  by  them  as  direct  impartations  from  heaven 
and  incomparably  higher  in  worth  than  the  natural 
thoughts  of  men.  In  what  other  way  was  it  open  to 
them  to  affirm  that  they  believed  that  the  new  life  they 
were  living  was  itself  the  life  divine?  The  question 
which  would  trouble  us  today — how  such  things  were 
psychologically  possible — seems  never  to  have  occurred 
to  them.  The  nearest  they  came  to  it  was  by  referring 
their  higher  thoughts  to  the  inner  working  of  the  Spirit 
of  God  on  their  minds.  Many  pages  might  be  filled  with 
quotations  illustrative  of  the  Apocalypticism  of  the  New 
Testament  writers.     A  few  references  must  suffice. 

If  we  turn  to  the  accounts  of  the  birth  of  Jesus,  we 
find  the  occurrences  connected  with  it  represented  as  the 
outcome  of  action  from  a  higher  divine  world  and  not 
from  the  human  will  itself.  For  example,  Matthew  says : 
"Now  the  birth  of  Jesus  was  on  this  wise:  when  his 
mother  Mary  had  been  betrothed  to  Joseph,  before  they 
came  together,  she  was  found  with  child  of  the  Holy 
Spirit."  Then  passing  to  Joseph's  situation  he  adds: 
"But  when  he  thought  on  these  things,  behold  an  angel 
of  the  Lord  appeared  to  him  in  a  dream,  saying,  .  .  .  ." 
And  so  the  account  continues.  Magi  from  the  East  are 
guided  to  the  young  child  by  a  moving  star,  and  they 
return  to  their  country  by  a  different  route  because  of  a 
warning  from  God  by  a  dream.  By  a  dream  Joseph  is 
directed  to  take  the  child  to  Egypt,  by  a  dream  he  is  told 
by  an  angel  to  return,  and  by  a  dream  he  is  warned  to  go 


A  pocalypticism  2  7 

to  Galilee.  This  is  the  manner  in  which  the  early  Chris- 
tians expressed  their  confidence  that  Jesus  had  come  to 
the  world  by  the  predetermining  will  of  God,  and  that 
the  earthly  events  pertaining  thereto  had  been  similarly 
ordered  by  God.  In  Luke's  account  the  representations 
of  heavenly  intervention  are  even  more  vivid.  Angelic 
messengers,  divine  inspirations,  voices  from  the  sky, 
signalize  the  advent  of  the  expected  Messiah.  Or  if  we 
turn  to  the  accounts  of  the  death  and  resurrection  of 
Jesus,  we  are  equally  impressed  with  the  vigor  of  the 
apocalypses.  Earthquakes,  appearings  of  the  dead  to  the 
living,  the  deeds  and  words  of  heavenly  angels,  startling 
appearings  of  Jesus  himself,  attest  the  truth  of  the  faith 
in  him  and  prove  the  supernatural  character  of  his  mis- 
sion. Or,  again,  if  we  take  the  accounts  of  his  ministry, 
they  are  studded  with  occurrences  of  intervention  from 
another  world.  A  notable  instance' is  the  transfigura- 
tion.    We  quote  from  Mark: 

And  after  six  days  Jesus  taketh  with  him  Peter  and  James 
and  John  and  bringeth  them  up  into  a  high  mountain  apart  by 
themselves;  and  he  was  transfigured  before  them,  and  his  gar- 
ments became  glistering,  exceeding  white,  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth 
can  whiten  them.  And  there  appeared  unto  them  Elijah  and 
Moses;   and  they  were  talking  with  Jesus.     And  Peter  answereth 

and  saith  unto  Jesus,  Rabbi,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  here 

And  there  came  a  cloud  overshadowing  them;  and  there  came  a 
voice  out  of  the  cloud:  This  is  my  beloved  Son:  hear  ye  him. 
And  suddenly  looking  round  about,  they  saw  no  one  any  more, 
save  Jesus  only  with  themselves. 

This  manner  of  narration  is  quite  generally  characteristic 
of  the  whole  of  the  accounts  of  Jesus'  career.  They  are 
cast  in  the  mold  of  a  belief  in  heavenly  apocalypses. 
Everything  is  conceived  miraculously.     Now,  to  remove 


28  What  Is  Christianity? 

the  miraculous  elements  from  the  story  is  to  rob  it  of  its 
peculiar  power.  It  is  not  for  us  to  seek  to  modernize 
these  narratives  by  excising  the  overt  interventions. 
That  would  be  an  act  of  violence  destructive  of  the 
peculiar  merits  of  the  gospel  records.  While  these 
accounts  would  sound  very  artificial  if  produced  in  our 
times,  they  were  entirely  natural  to  the  minds  of  religious 
men  in  those  times. 

It  is,  therefore,  perfectly  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of 
those  times  that  Jesus  should  commonly  express  his  mind 
in  the  forms  of  apocalyptic.  There  is  scarcely  an  utter- 
ance of  his  of  any  length  which  does  not  embrace  apoc- 
alyptical elements,  and  it  is  just  what  we  might  expect 
when  we  find  him  offering  his  disciples  startling  and 
impressive  apocalyptical  discourses  before  he  suffered. 
As  elsewhere,  wars,  pestilences,  cleaving  heavens,  falling 
stars,  visible  descent  of  the  Son  of  Man  from  heaven,  and 
the  judgment  of  the  world  are  outstanding  features. 
The  great  Apocalypse  of  John  which  stands  at  the  end 
of  our  canon  is,  in  its  general  spirit  and  mode  of  utter- 
ance, quite  in  harmony  with  the  remainder  of  the  Jewish 
material  in  our  New  Testament.  It  is  a  paean  of  coming 
triumph  for  Christians  over  their  oppressive  foes  and  the 
unseen  forces  of  the  regions  of  Evil.  This  concatena- 
tion of  visions  demonstrates  the  unconquerableness  of 
the  primitive  faith.  Taking  for  granted  the  dualistic 
cosmology,  the  belief  that  happenings  on  earth  were  pre- 
determined by  heavenly  enactments,  the  belief  that  dis- 
closures of  the  future  outworking  of  the  divine  will  are 
made  to  men  through  supernatural  means,  and  the  assur- 
ance that  Jesus  was  the  appointed  King  of  the  ages  bound 
to  overthrow  the  power  of  evil  in  the  world,  it  is  difficult 


Apocalypticism  29 

to  conceive  a  more  effective  vindication  of  the  early 
Christian  faith  than  this  book  offers. 

It  would  not  be  well  to  pass  to  later  periods  of  Chris- 
tian history  without  pointing  out  that  the  New  Testa- 
ment contains  many  elements  of  a  different  character 
from  the  Jewish  apocalyptic.  As  the  Christian  gospel 
was  carried  into  distant  portions  of  the  Roman  Empire 
and  beyond,  it  met  types  of  spirituality  very  different 
from  the  Jewish.  The  spirit  of  the  Graeco-Roman  phi- 
losophy of  religion,  especially  in  Gnosticism,  and  the 
Roman  conception  of  world-government  were  mighty 
forces  to  be  reckoned  with  by  any  propaganda  that 
sought  to  become  world-wide.  The  Christian  gospel 
had  to  adjust  itself  to  the  new  demands  these  made  upon 
it  and  proved  its  world-dominating  power  by  so  doing. 
We  shall  speak  later  of  the  manner  in  which  this  was 
accomplished.  It  is  sufficient  at  this  point  simply  to 
state  that  already  with  New  Testament  times  this  work 
of  assimilating  ethnic  spirituality  had  begun.  The 
writings  of  Paul  and  John  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
are  evidences.  But  it  should  be  noted  that  even  in  those 
portions  where  the  ethnic  spirit  is  manifest  the  spirit  of 
the  apocalyptic  survives  and  mingles  with  the  other. 
We  see  it  in  the  Pauline  letters  to  the  Colossians  and  the 
Ephesians.  The  writer,  with  all  his  ideas  of  the  imma- 
nence of  the  divine  and  with  his  readiness  to  make  use  of 
the  Gnostic  cosmology,  still  thinks  very  largely  in  the 
terms  of  the  Jewish  apocalyptic.  We  see  it  in  the  Gospel 
of  John,  where  the  high  mysticism  and  spirituality  of  the 
writer  have  not  yet  led  him  to  abandon  Apocalypticism. 
We  see  it  also  in  Hebrews,  where  Alexandrian  philosophy 
with  all  its  allegorism  has  not  succeeded  in  doing  away 


30  What  Is  Christianity? 

with  a  literal  heaven  above  the  earth,  the  actual  ascent 
of  Jesus  into  it,  and  his  future  real  descent.  We  con- 
clude, therefore,  our  study  of  the  early  Christain  inter- 
pretation of  Christianity  by  saying  that,  so  far  as  the 
books  of  the  New  Testament  disclose  it  to  us,  that  inter- 
pretation is  throughout  prevailingly  apocalyptical. 

4.  APOCALYPTICISM  IN  CATHOLIC  AND  PROTESTANT  CREEDS 

An  account  of  the  influence  of  this  interpretation  of 
Christianity  upon  the  life  and  thought  of  the  ancient 
Greek  church,  the  mediaeval  Roman  church,  and  modern 
Protestant  churches,  together  with  the  controversies  and 
divisions  connected  with  the  struggle  between  it  and 
successive  modernizations  of  it,  would  fill  a  volume.  We 
must  content  ourselves  with  little  more  than  a  bare  men- 
tion of  those  features  of  it  which  have  persisted  among 
the  majority  of  Christians. 

It  was  not  possible  that  the  peoples  of  the  Near  East 
with  their  native  spirit  of  piety  of  the  metaphysical  or 
mystical  sort  should,  on  becoming  Christians,  immedi- 
ately abandon  that  which  had  been  sewn  into  their 
natures  for  centuries  so  as  to  become  the  warp  and  woof 
of  their  inner  life  and  that  Jewish  Apocalypticism  should 
be  substituted  for  it.  That  would  be  an  act  of  violence. 
Neither  was  it  possible  for  the  great  church  which  was 
growing  up  and  seeking  to  justify  its  claim  to  be  the  true 
and  sole  heir  to  the  Christian  tradition  either  to  repudiate 
the  early  apocalyptic  or  rewrite  it.  The  only  thing  that 
was  possible  if  the  church  was  to  maintain  its  claims  and 
retain  all  classes  of  believers  within  its  bosom  was  that 
the  traditional  apocalyptic  and  the  new  philosophy 
should  be  written  down  together  without  an  attempt  to 


A  pocalypticism  3 1 

reconcile  them  or  an  acknowledgment  that  a  reconcilia- 
tion was  needed.  The  retention  of  the  primitive  apoca- 
lyptic was  all  the  more  imperative  since  there  was  a 
growing  belief  that  the  writings  of  apostolic  men  were 
new  "scriptures"  and  therefore  an  authoritative  declara- 
tion of  truth,  a  law  of  faith  for  all  time.  Thus  it  came 
about  that  when  the  church  drew  up  her  creed  the  new 
philosophy  and  the  old  interpretation  of  the  apocalyp- 
ticists  were  placed  side  by  side.  In  all  the  successive 
developments  of  the  Nicene  Creed  of  the  ancient  Catholic 
church  there  is  reiterated  the  confession  of  the  expecta- 
tion that  Jesus  Christ  who  had  "  ascended  into  heaven 
and  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Father"  was  to 
"come  again  with  glory,  to  judge  both  the  quick  and  the 
dead;  whose  kingdom  shall  have  no  end."  It  is  also 
affirmed:  "I  look  for  the  resurrection  of  the  dead," 
which  is  presently  interpreted  to  mean,  "the  resurrection 
of  the  body,"  so  as  to  set  aside  positively  all  spiritualiza- 
tions  of  that  portion  of  the  creed. 

When  the  Western  church  became  Roman  it  was  still 
farther  from  possibility  that  the  apocalyptical  interpre- 
tation should  suffice.  For  the  church  had  now  con- 
sciously assumed  the  burden  of  responsibility  for  the  task 
of  renovating  by  normal  means  the  very  world  of  whose 
future  Apocalypticism  had  despaired.  Yet  the  Roman 
church  was  compelled,  equally  with  the  Greek  church, 
to  retain  the  ancient  apocalyptical  confession.  But  this 
Apocalypticism  was  no  dead  letter  of  the  law  of  faith  in 
this  instance.  On  the  contrary,  it  became  a  powerful 
instrument  for  impressing  the  popular  mind  with  the 
transcendent  worth  of  the  moral  implications  of  the 
Christian  faith.     The  approach  of  the  day  of  universal 


32  What  Is  Christianity? 

judgment,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  in  the  body,  the 
irrevocable  sentence  to  heaven  or  hell,  became  the 
ground  of  those  mighty  appeals  to  the  imagination  and 
the  conscience  which  have  enabled  the  Roman  church 
to  hold  its  millions  in  leash.  At  the  same  time,  also, 
the  idea  of  a  spiritual,  miraculous,  and  exclusive  com- 
munication of  truth  to  chosen  men  became  an  instru- 
ment for  fastening  upon  the  people  the  claims  of  the 
church  to  obedience. 

Protestantism,  with  its  biblicism  and  its  insistence 
upon  the  restoration  of  the  primitive  faith  in  its  purity, 
opened  the  door  to  a  fuller  restoration  of  Apocalypticism 
than  Romanism  permitted.  It  is  true  that  the  Prot- 
estant insistence  upon  the  sole  authority  of  the  Scrip- 
tures has  prevented  a  recrudescence  among  Protestants, 
to  any  appreciable  extent,  of  the  visions  and  trances  that 
were  so  deeply  cherished  by  Catholic  pietists,  but  it 
logically  demanded  the  restoration  of  the  whole  primitive 
view  of  things.  That  it  did  not  commonly  go  so  far 
among  Protestants  was  owing  to  the  strength  of  their 
moral  convictions  and  their  practical  good  sense.  Never- 
theless it  did  pave  the  way  for  a  repeated  recrudescence 
of  millenarianism  with  its  pessimistic  view  of  the  world. 
From  this  Protestantism  still  suffers  in  many  quarters, 
but,  on  the  whole,  it  is  to  be  said  that  Protestants  have 
been  content  to  use  only  those  portions  of  ancient  apoc- 
alyptic which  were  the  main  basis  of  the  Catholic  appeal 
to  the  minds  of  the  people,  namely,  the  factual  represen- 
tation of  the  coming,  the  ascent,  and  the  return  of  Jesus 
(in  the  distant  future),  the  day  of  judgment,  the  resur- 
rection, the  end  of  the  world,  and  a  literal  heaven  and  hell. 
In  one  other  respect  Apocalypticism  persists  among 


Apocalypticism  33 

Protestants.  Their  repudiation  of  an  immanent  author- 
ity in  the  church  in  favor  of  the  plenary  inspiration  of 
the  Scriptures  tended  to  establish  in  the  Protestant 
churches  the  view  that  the  saving  truth  of  religion  is 
communicated  to  men  through  supranatural  channels  of 
transmission  which  are  not  to  be  subjected  to  the  canons 
of  our  ordinary  thinking.  It  is  only  in  recent  times  that 
this  feature  of  Apocalypticism  has  been  giving  way. 

5.   VALUE   OF  APOCALYPTICISM 

We  shall  conclude  the  discussion  of  our  subject  with 
an  estimate.  Apocalypticism  as  an  interpretation  of 
Christianity  has  a  fourfold  merit:  First,  it  affirms  the 
reality  of  an  unseen  world.  In  this  it  makes  response  to 
a  profound  longing  of  the  human  heart.  For  among  all 
enlightened  peoples  who  have  reflected  deeply  on  the 
meaning  of  life,  the  transitory  nature  of  the  goods  of  this 
present  world  and  their  failure  to  satisfy  the  deepest 
longings  of  the  heart  have  become  proverbial.  The 
spirit  of  man  longs  for  the  eternal  and  unchangeable,  the 
city  which  has  foundations,  the  things  that  cannot  be 
shaken,  whose  goods,  once  attained,  are  ours  forever. 
Such  a  world,  if  destined  to  be  ours,  would  not  only 
secure  for  us  release  from  the  pangs  of  failure  and  dis- 
appointment here,  but  the  expectation  of  it  would  impart 
a  spirit  of  resignation  in  the  midst  of  present  distresses. 
The  records  of  Christian  piety  abound  in  proofs  of  this 
ministry  of  Apocalypticism.  The  persecuted  in  all  the 
Christian  centuries  have  borne  unequivocal  testimony  to 
the  sustaining  power  of  the  confidence  in  the  reality  of 
that  better  world.  The  belief  in  the  reality  of  the  visions 
men  have  had  of  that  world  has  aided  the  minds  of  the 


34  What  Is  Christianity? 

unreflecting  to  reach  an  experience  of  peace,  in  striking 
contrast  to  the  restlessness  that  springs  from  unaided 
speculation. 

But  this  has  not  proved  to  be  an  unmixed  good.  The 
low  estimate  of  this  present  world  by  contrast  has  often 
led  to  a  disparagement  of  the  common  tasks  of  life,  a  lack 
of  sympathy  for  those  whose  lot  is  inextricably  bound  to 
material  things,  and  a  generally  pessimistic  and  censori- 
ous spirit.  Earth  is  too  often  regarded  only  in  its  con- 
trast with  a  heaven,  and  man  only  in  his  contrast  with 
God.  In  its  theory  of  the  higher  knowledge  Apocalypti- 
cism exhibits  another  weakness.  For  by  its  depreciation 
of  our  ordinary  thinking  on  religious  subjects  and  its 
reference  of  all  divine  truth  to  supranatural  means  of 
communication  open,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  to  the  favored 
few  only,  it  has  tended  to  the  creation  of  a  religious 
aristocracy  and  to  a  depreciation  of  scientific  investiga- 
tion and  philosophic  inquiry.  Where  Apocalypticism 
has  flourished  there  has  been  almost  invariably  a  cor- 
responding low  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  native  work- 
ing of  our  minds  and  a  shrinking  from  the  severer  tasks 
of  learning.  In  short,  by  its  predication  of  two  separate 
worlds  and  its  claims  to  a  supranatural  knowledge  Apoc- 
alypticism tends  to  bisect  our  human  life,  to  destroy  its 
unity,  and  to  make  a  free  natural  communion  between 
God  and  man  impossible. 

Secondly,  Apocalypticism  has  the  merit  of  affirming 
a  purposive,  divine  government  of  the  world.  It  lifts 
the  whole  of  human  life  above  the  realm  of  chance.  It 
leaves  no  room  for  fatalism  or  the  idea  that  the  course  of 
the  world  is  a  meaningless  round  of  happenings.  More- 
over, it  attaches  a  dignity  to  human  affairs  by  holding 


Apocalypticism  35 

that  in  the  midst  of  all  complexity  and  seeming  con- 
fusion there  is  an  end  toward  which  all  moves,  and  there- 
fore there  is  order.  Hence  also  the  power  of  foresight 
and  predetermination  so  characteristic  of  men  is  recog- 
nized as  of  like  nature  with  the  supreme  power  in  the 
universe.  There  is  therefore  a  dignity  attached  to 
human  actions  both  good  and  bad. 

But  this  merit  of  Apocalypticism  is  seriously  com- 
promised by  its  conception  of  the  manner  in  which  this 
divine  end  is  attained.  The  world  is  supposed  to  be 
controlled  from  without,  and  its  history  has  too  arbitrary 
a  character  to  permit  us  a  reasoned  view  of  its  course. 
If  the  natural  course  of  things  is  to  be  subjected,  without 
warning,  to  interference  from  without,  and  nature's  laws 
either  do  not  exist  as  laws  or  they  may  be  set  aside  at 
any  time  by  fiat  from  on  high,  then  the  mode  of  the 
divine  government  of  the  world  is  contrary  to  that  which 
now  commends  itself  to  us  in  political  circles  as  worthy 
of  our  allegiance  today. 

Thirdly,  Apocalypticism  by  its  picture  of  a  great  judg- 
ment day  stands  for  the  supremacy  and  finality  of  right- 
eousness in  the  affairs  of  men.  The  expectation  of  such 
an  event  imparts  a  necessary  sternness  in  the  presence 
of  crime.  It  tends  to  support  the  affirmations  of  the 
human  conscience  and  to  raise  the  moral  powers  of  our 
nature  to  their  rightful  supremacy.  It  sets  aside  as 
frivolous  every  theory  that  tends  to  belittle  the  human 
personality,  and  it  stamps  as  damnable  every  attempt  to 
rob  men  of  their  moral  initiative  and  responsibility.  It 
tends,  therefore,  to  confirm  and  to  purify  the  efforts  of 
civic  communities  to  establish  methods  of  unswerving 
justice  in  the  government  of  the  people. 


36  What  Is  Christianity? 

On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the 
postponement  of  the  day  of  judgment  to  the  distant 
future  does  not  tend  to  a  legalistic  view  of  our  relations 
to  God  and  to  an  obscuration  of  the  truth  that  the  execu- 
tion of  divine  justice  is  immanent  in  human  life,  that 
the  judgment  day  is  now.  It  has  thus  indirectly  sup- 
ported conceptions  of  salvation  that  represent  it  as  an 
unnatural  resort  to  special  provisions  for  escaping  at  last 
the  consequences  of  sins.  Its  views  of  life  are  serious, 
indeed,  but  not  serious  enough. 

Fourthly,  Christian  Apocalypticism  has  the  merit  of 
standing  for  the  supreme  worth  of  the  personality  of 
Jesus  Christ  as  interpretative  of  the  worth  of  our  human 
personality  and  as  the  divine  ideal  which  is  to  conquer 
the  world.  But  by  regarding  him  as  coming  into  our 
world  in  unnatural  ways  from  without,  as  accepting  our 
earthly  condition  only  for  an  interval  and  as  now  occupy- 
ing a  realm  altogether  different  from  ours,  it  is  open  to 
the  charge  of  making  him  appear  like  an  accident  in 
human  history,  and  in  the  end  as  having  only  a  partial 
kinship  with  us.  The  outcome  must  be  a  loss  of  con- 
fidence in  the  value  of  the  hope  of  being  like  him 
here. 

It  becomes  a  question  for  the  modern  Christian  how 
far  he  may  hold  to  those  eternal  realities  set  forth  in 
Apocalypticism,  how  far  he  can  be  Christian  and  yet 
decline  to  be  bound  by  the  modes  of  thought  and  utter- 
ance so  largely  characteristic  of  the  early  Christian 
believers.  Are  we  not  more  loyal  to  Jesus  Christ  and 
the  faith  he  gave  to  men  if  we  set  aside  as  temporary  the 
forms  of  that  faith  which  cannot  commend  themselves 
to  our  best  judgment  and  sincerest  trust  and  at  the  same 


Apocalypticism  37 

time  seek  to  retain  and  fulfil  the  spirit  of  his  life  than  if 
we  regard  the  spirit  as  bound  to  the  letter  ?  Apocalyp- 
ticism was  a  natural  mode  of  thought  in  early  Christian 
days,  but  has  it  not  become  unnatural  for  our  days? 
Do  we  not  prove  false  to  the  inner  spirit  of  Christianity 
if  we  continue  to  retain  it  ? 


CHAPTER  II 

CATHOLICISM 

It  is  always  hazardous  for  one  who  does  not  accept  a 
place  within  a  given  religious  communion  to  attempt  a 
characterization  of  it.  He  seems  to  be  at  a  disadvan- 
tage compared  with  a  member  of  that  communion.  In 
the  case  of  Catholicism  the  disadvantage  is  negligible, 
because  the  complex  of  forces  and  events  comprised 
within  it  covers  a  period  of  eighteen  centuries  and  affects 
vast  areas  of  the  earth  and  countless  millions  of  people. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  interpreter  who  has  personally 
felt  the  impact  of  the  religious  power  that  is  resident  in 
Catholicism  but  does  not  feel  any  compulsion  to  justify 
its  claims  has  a  distinct  advantage. 

The  word  " catholic"  is  from  the  Greek  and  means 
universal.  Its  employment  as  a  designation  of  a  Chris- 
tian communion  seems  to  have  occurred  for  the  first  time 
in  the  second  century  of  the  Christian  era.  The  Chris- 
tian gospel  had  been  preached  widely  in  the  Roman 
Empire  and  beyond,  with  the  result  that  many  local 
religious  associations  had  been  formed  under  the  Chris- 
tian name  but  differing  so  widely  in  the  traditions,  cus- 
toms, and  doctrines  they  held  that  there  was  danger  lest 
the  new  faith  be  shipwrecked  in  the  storm  of  general 
religious  confusion.  Many  there  were  who  strove  to 
hold  to  the  original,  simple,  but  picturesque  message  of 
the  early  Jewish  preachers.  Others  welcomed  the  new 
faith  as  furnishing  older  popular  faiths  with  a  higher 

38 


Catholicism  39 

meaning  and  sought  for  a  philosophic  comprehension 
of  it.  Others,  again,  tried  a  middle  way.  Controversy 
and  division  multiplied.  There  was  danger  lest  the 
gospel  be  lost  in  a  medley  of  realities,  speculations, 
fancies,  and  superstitions.  It  was  amid  these  circum- 
stances that,  under  the  leadership  of  such  men  as  Ignatius 
of  Antioch  and  Irenaeus  of  Lyons,  an  effort  was  put 
forth  to  stem  the  tendency  toward  disintegration  by 
laying  down  a  few  broad  statements  purporting  to  be 
the  invariable  tradition  held  by  the  true  churches  the 
world  over  and  constituting  the  apostolic  standard  of 
truth.  In  this  respect,  they  said,  the  churches  were  all 
at  one;  in  fact,  they  were  one  church.  This  one  church 
— the  church  catholic — was  alone  the  true  church.  Dif- 
ferences, therefore,  came  from  without.  Universalism 
was  set  up  against  individualism,  authority  against 
speculation  and  discovery,  law  against  freedom.  This 
is  the  beginning  of  Catholicism. 

During  these  eighteen  centuries  Catholicism  has 
passed  through  three  main  stages  of  development.  In 
those  early  times,  when  its  main  strength  lay  in  the 
regions  adjacent  to  the  Eastern  Mediterranean,  where 
the  Greek  language  was  the  principal  medium  for  the 
exchange  of  ideas  and  Greek-speaking  Christians  were 
the  principal  leaders  in  the  thought  and  action  of  Chris- 
tendom, there  grew  up  the  Eastern,  or  Greek,  church, 
so  called,  with  its  cultivation  of  " mysteries,"  its  pro- 
found metaphysical  speculations,  its  great  creeds,  and 
its  episcopal  organization.  Later,  when  the  faith  spread 
through  Western  Europe,  and  its  center  of  gravity  was 
found  at  Rome,  the  custom  of  the  Roman  church  became 
the  standard  for  the  West,  and  in  the  work  of  reducing 


40  What  Is  Christianity? 

the  new  threatening  chaos  to  order  there  grew  up  the 
great  mediaeval  system  of  ecclesiastical  administration 
with  its  headquarters  in  the  " Eternal  City"  and  its 
agents  in  every  political  center  and  every  public  place. 
Here  stood  the  Western,  or  Roman,  church  over  against 
the  Eastern,  or  Greek,  church,  with  a  deep  cleavage 
between  them.  Finally,  when  the  free  national,  indus- 
trial, commercial,  intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  forces 
that  had  been  kept  for  a  time  in  subjection  by  the  Roman 
church  got  beyond  control  and  in  Protestantism  found 
a  larger  life  outside  the  Church  of  Rome,  she  found  her- 
self mainly  occupied  in  retaining  the  allegiance  of  those 
who  still  remained  within  her  communion  and  in  resisting 
Protestant  attacks.  Then  appeared  the  reactionary, 
conservative,  anti-modernist  papal  church  of  the  present. 
Thus  Catholicism  has  passed  through  three  great  stages. 
The  schism  between  East  and  West  made  two  mutually 
antagonistic  churches,  both  of  which,  nevertheless, 
claimed  to  be  Catholic.  Then  the  Protestant  revolution 
brought  into  existence  many  anti-Catholic  Christian 
bodies  that  have  disputed  successfully  with  her  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Western  world.  Catholicism  and 
universality  have  long  since  ceased  to  be  synonyms. 
Catholicism  is  now  a  name  designating  a  sect. 

Notwithstanding  the  wide  differences  that  have 
appeared  within  Catholicism  during  these  many  cen- 
turies, there  still  remains  a  link  of  identity  uniting  the 
past  and  the  present,  and  the  most  striking  character- 
istics of  Catholicism  from  the  beginning  remain.  In 
discovering  these  we  must  remember  that,  while  there 
is  much  of  keen  invention  in  Catholicism,  the  system  is 
not  so  much  an  invention  as  a  growth.     For  convenience 


Catholicism  41 

let  us  consider  it  in  its  four  main  aspects — as  a  type  of 
piety  or  religious  life,  as  a  form  of  morality  or  conduct, 
as  an  institutional  system  or  church,  and  as  a  philosophy 
or  body  of  doctrine. 

I.   CATHOLICISM  AS  A  TYPE   OF   RELIGIOUS   LIFE 

In  this  study  we  shall  beware  of  drawing  our  infer- 
ences mainly  from  official  acts  and  pronouncements,  but 
we  shall  remember  that  the  heart  of  Catholicism,  like 
every  other  kind  of  religion,  is  found  in  the  minds  of  the 
multitudes  of  its  common  people.  Its  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies, its  rules  and  regulations  for  action,  its  great  institu- 
tions, and  its  doctrines  have  come  into  being  in  response 
to  real  or  imagined  popular  needs  or  demands.  What, 
then,  is  the  kind  of  piety  that  is  cultivated  among  the 
Catholic  masses  ? 

Observe,  at  the  outset,  the  attention  that  is  paid  to 
worship.  There  are  its  places  of  worship,  all  con- 
structed, as  far  as  possible,  with  a  view  to  arousing  and 
cultivating  certain  emotions — its  churches,  basilicas, 
and  cathedrals  erected  on  eminences  or  other  conspicu- 
ous sites,  with  lofty  towers  and  spires  pointing  heaven- 
ward, with  massive  walls  and  lordly  pillars,  with  spacious 
assembly  rooms,  long-drawn  aisles,  high  ceilings,  and 
softly  dimmed  light,  with  their  far-off,  railed-in  altars, 
burning  candles,  and  floating  incense.  All  these  have  a 
meaning  that  cannot  be  set  forth  in  mathematics  or  the 
formulas  of  science  or  in  the  terms  of  common  utilitarian 
purposes,  for  they  tell  of  movements  of  the  secret  soul 
within  the  man. 

There  are  its  objects  of  worship.     They  are  many, 
as  in  polytheism  and  idolatry,  but  with  a  difference. 


42  What  Is  Christianity? 

Foremost  and  above  all  they  worship  God  as  one  God 
but  in  three  persons — whatever  those  words  may  mean — 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.  This  is  the  highest  kind 
of  worship,  known  as  latria,  which  we  may  translate 
''adoration,"  and  is  offered  to  God  alone.  In  this  wor- 
ship there  is  no  familiarity,  but  that  deep  submission  and 
silence  of  the  spirit  as  it  views  as  from  afar  the  Incom- 
prehensible and  Infinite  who  cannot  be  known  in  himself 
but  only  in  his  persons  or  the  manifestations  of  his 
essence.  Lower  than  this  worship  is  dulia,  or  the  service 
and  veneration  which  may  be  rendered  to  those  lower 
beings  whom  God  has  signally  honored  and  through 
whom  he  manifests  a  portion  of  his  glories.  First  of 
these  is  the  Virgin  Mary,  who  receives  hyper  dulia,  or  the 
higher  veneration  given  to  those  who  are  only  less  than 
the  divine.  Saints,  or  holy  men  and  women,  in  great 
number  are  objects  of  this  lower  worship  and  through 
them  both  prayer  and  praise  are  offered  to  God.  When 
the  heart,  depressed  with  its  sense  of  sin,  fears  to  enter 
into  the  divine  presence,  it  turns  to  those  who  have 
sinned  as  we  have  and  yet  have  been  purified  and  impor- 
tunes their  intercessions  with  God.  The  demand  for 
these  mediators  is  constant  in  Catholicism,  for  it  seems 
that  without  them  there  is  a  lack  of  the  sense  of  the 
mercy  of  God.  New  saints  are  being  canonized  from 
time  to  time,  altars  and  shrines  are  being  erected  to 
them  where  their  votaries  may  find  the  blessing  of  fellow- 
ship with  them  and  their  help.  From  this  step  easily 
follows  the  consecration  of  holy  places,  holy  articles, 
and  holy  relics  which  tend  to  awaken  the  pious  feelings 
of  the  Catholic  votary  and  to  assure  him  of  the  divine 
favor. 


Catholicism  43 

In  keeping  with  these  are  the  modes  of  worship.  In 
order  to  excite  the  appropriate  emotions,  statues  or 
shrines  are  erected  in  honor  of  the  Savior  and  great  saints, 
and  before  these  the  devotee  prostrates  himself  or  pre- 
sents his  offerings  in  order  to  find  favor  and  peace.  Pic- 
tures are  suspended  in  places  of  devotion,  representing 
the  deeds  or  sufferings  of  Jesus  or  Mary  or  other  hallowed 
persons,  and  by  gazing  upon  these  the  desired  benefit  is 
obtained.  A  similar  effect  is  produced  by  looking  upon 
or  touching  the  relics  of  saints  and  martyrs.  Or,  with- 
out the  use  of  a  material  image,  the  soul  may  be  excited 
to  high  impulse  by  meditating  on  the  happiness  of  the 
blest  in  paradise  or  the  miseries  of  the  wicked  in  hell  or 
of  those  whose  crimes  are  to  be  expiated  in  purgatory. 
Again,  a  series  of  devotional  acts  may  be  prescribed,  such 
as  the  repetition  of  a  prayer  many  times  in  succession, 
perhaps  with  the  help  of  beads  to  keep  the  count.  But 
chief  of  all  the  methods  of  arousing  the  spirit  of  devotion 
is  the  performance  of  sacraments.  These  cannot  be 
spoken  of  here  in  detail,  but  mention  may  be  made  par- 
ticularly of  the  sacrament  of  the  Eucharist  with  its  cul- 
mination in  the  Mass.  The  supreme  miracle  is  witnessed 
by  the  beholder  when  he  sees  the  Host  elevated  before 
God  as  the  sublimest  act  of  self-sacrifice  and  devotion 
and  feels  that  in  it  Christ  is  being  still  offered  to  God  and 
the  offering  is  accepted.  So  long  as  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Mass  is  continued,  so  long  is  the  soul  for  whom  it  is 
offered  in  the  way  of  salvation.  It  is  quite  in  keeping 
with  this  practice  that  crucifixes  are  distributed  among 
the  people  in  order  that  the  remembrance  of  the  suffering 
of  Christ  for  them  may  stir  their  hearts  to  love  and 
gratitude. 


44  What  Is  Christianity? 

It  is  characteristic  of  the  Catholic  worship  that  the 
human  and  the  divine  are  conceived  as  brought  together, 
not  in  a  natural  way — for  they  are  not  conceived  as 
naturally  one — but  in  a  supernatural  way.  The  phi- 
losophy which  underlies  and  supports  this  view  will  be 
referred  to  later.  Meanwhile  this  outstanding  feature 
of  Catholicism  is  to  be  kept  in  mind.  In  keeping  with 
this  the  emotions  characteristic  of  Catholic  piety  fall 
into  two  main  classes,  namely,  those  connected  with  the 
idea  of  the  divine  and  those  connected  with  the  idea  of 
the  human.  When  the  human  and  the  divine  are  con- 
ceived as  united,  as  in  Christ,  there  is  excited  the  feeling 
of  tender  sympathy  and  compassion.  The  human  career 
of  Jesus  abounds  in  events  that  invite  the  worshiper  to 
try  to  imitate  his  deeds  and  repeat  in  himself  the  very 
emotions  that  Jesus  felt,  even  in  his  agonies  connected 
with  the  crucifixion.  Here,  however,  the  divine  in  the 
human  is  what  gives  sanctity  to  the  experiences  of  the 
sufferer  and  makes  them  valuable  for  men.  The  wor- 
shiper is  willing  to  go  the  way  of  the  cross  with  Jesus  and 
share  his  sufferings.  Thus  the  suffering  Redeemer  God 
becomes  the  center  of  devotion : 

O  sacred  Head  now  wounded,  with  grief  and  shame  weighed 

down, 
Now  scornfully  surrounded  with  thorns,  thy  only  crown! 
O  sacred  Head,  what  glory,  what  bliss  till  now  was  thine! 
Yet,  though  despised  and  gory,  I  joy  to  call  thee  mine. 

The  unity  with  Jesus  which  the  Catholic  seeks  is  an 
emotional  unity. 

When  the  divine  is  regarded  as  separated  from  the 
human,  it  creates  the  feeling  of  awe  or  fear  and  forebod- 
ing.    Thus  even  Jesus  Christ  becomes  a  dread  judge 


Catholicism  45 

whose  sentence  is  feared  and  whom  the  worshiper  seeks 
to  placate  through  the  intercessions  of  Mary  and  the 
saints.  If  God  is  adored  as  Father,  he  is  not  so  much 
the  Father  of  men  as  the  First  Person  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 
the  Father  of  the  Son,  unknown  to  any  but  through  the 
Son,  and  too  far  away  for  comfort  to  flow  from  the 
thought  of  him.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  not  so  much  a  joyful 
presence  in  the  soul  as  the  mysterious  inspirer  and 
renewer,  also  beyond  and  away. 

The  contemplation  of  human  nature  apart  from  the 
divine  excites  emotions  of  unhappiness,  self-contempt, 
or  revulsion.  It  is  the  opposite  of  the  divine,  whether, 
as  in  the  Eastern  church,  it  be  viewed  as  the  finite,  igno- 
rant, erring,  and  perishable  over  against  the  infinitude, 
omniscience,  holiness,  and  immortality  of  God;  or 
whether,  as  in  the  Western  church,  it  be  viewed  more 
particularly  as  the  disobedient,  selfish,  impure,  and  guilty 
transgressor  of  the  divine  law.  Consequently  the  Cath- 
olic feels  that  human  nature  is  to  be  repressed  and  humil- 
iated, and  he  may  resort  to  the  wearing  of  filthy  garments 
and  the  neglect  or  the  affliction  of  his  body  so  as  to  reduce 
it  to  subjection  to  the  spirit.  Whatever  human  nature 
may  have  been  at  the  creation,  it  is  now  fallen  and  cor- 
rupt, and  ought  to  be  despised  in  the  presence  of  the 
divine. 

Thus  the  Catholic  emotional  experience  oscillates 
between  two  poles,  the  sublime  contemplation  of  Deity 
far  removed  from  men  and  their  ways,  producing  both  a 
longing  after  God  and  a  shrinking  from  his  presence,  and 
the  dissatisfaction  and  disgust  produced  by  the  con- 
sciousness of  human  weakness  and  sin — fitting  anticipa- 
tions of  the  vision  of  heaven  and  hell  in  a  world  to  come. 


46  What  Is  Christianity? 

This  emotional  contrast  is  both  the  strength  and  the 
weakness  of  Catholicism — its  strength,  because  it  begets 
in  some  those  all-consuming  aspirations  which  enable 
them  to  endure  the  greatest  privations  and  to  reach  the 
highest  achievements  in  the  way  of  mental  concentra- 
tion; its  weakness,  in  that  the  constant  uncertainty  and 
vacillation  prevent  the  power  of  initiative  from  making 
itself  supreme  in  the  life,  but  leave  men  ready  tools  for 
the  purposes  of  others. 

What,  then,  is  the  character  of  Catholic  hopes  and 
aspirations?  The  deep  sense  of  the  reality  of  another 
world,  unseen  by  man  and  separated  from  this  world  by 
a  veil  that  no  natural  power  of  human  vision  can  pierce — 
a  world  whose  reality  is  the  opposite  of  this  world,  whose 
worth  is  infinite  and  eternal  in  contrast  with  the  fleeting 
and  delusive  character  of  the  things  in  this  present  world 
— issues  in  the  desire  and  hope  of  receiving  here  and  now 
some  token  or  sign  from  that  world,  some  gift  of  good 
that  more  than  makes  up  for  the  loss  of  all  things  here. 
Hence  the  cherishing  of  belief  in  voices,  visions,  dreams, 
apparitions,  signs,  and  omens  coming  from  the  better 
world  into  ours.  But  the  inevitable  disappointments 
that  must  weaken  these  aspirations  lead  to  a  seeking  for 
some  tangible  or  visible  instrument  or  vehicle  for  the 
transmission  of  the  heavenly  gifts,  and,  consequently, 
there  arises  a  superstitious  regard  for  certain  places, 
articles,  outward  acts,  days,  or  seasons  that  carry  with 
them  some  secret  and  mysterious  blessing.  High  spirit- 
uality and  a  low  materialism  are  ill-matched  compan- 
ions, but  they  are  commonly  found  side  by  side  in  the 
Catholic  type  of  religion. 


Catholicism  47 

2.    CATHOLICISM  AS  A  TYPE   OF  MORALITY  OR  A 
FORM  OF   CONDUCT 

The  dualism  that  is  characteristic  of  the  religious 
spirit  of  Catholicism  reappears  in  its  morality,  and  natu- 
rally so,  since  morality  at  its  highest  is  true  religion.  As 
in  Catholic  piety  there  is  seen  the  union  of  high  spiritual- 
istic devotion  and  a  crass  materialistic  worship,  so  also 
in  its  morality,  alongside  of  exclusive  devotion  to  the 
aims  that  spring  out  of  the  sense  of  the  supreme  worth 
of  the  invisible  world,  there  is  a  place  for  a  low  compro- 
mise with  sordidness  and  sensuality.  There  is  room 
both  for  the  ascetic  and  for  the  worldling. 

In  order  to  understand  Catholic  morality  we  must 
first  apprehend  its  ideal  of  life.  It  is  suggested  by  such 
scriptures  as  the  following:  "Lay  not  up  for  yourselves 
treasures  on  earth  ....  but  lay  up  for  yourselves  treas- 
ures in  heaven."  "Be  not  anxious  for  your  life,  what  ye 
shall  eat,  or  what  ye  shall  drink,  nor  yet  for  your  body 
what  ye  shall  put  on."  "Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  his  righteousness."  "If  any  man  would  come 
after  me,  let  him  deny  himself  and  take  up  his  cross  and 
follow  me.  For  whosoever  would  save  his  life  shall  lose 
it  and  whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find 
it."  "And  every  one  that  hath  left  houses,  or  brethren, 
or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or  children,  or  lands  for 
my  sake  shall  receive  a  hundred  fold  and  shall  inherit 
eternal  life."  "Flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God,  neither  doth  corruption  inherit  incor- 

ruption For  this  corruptible  must  put  on  incor- 

ruption  and  this  mortal  must  put  on  immortality.  But 
when  this  corruptible  shall  have  put  on  incorruption  and 


48  What  Is  Christianity? 

this  mortal  shall  have  put  on  immortality,  then  shall  be 
brought  to  pass  the  saying,  Death  is  swallowed  up  in  vic- 
tory." "If  ye  live  after  the  flesh  ye  must  die,  but  if 
by  the  Spirit  ye  put  to  death  the  deeds  of  the  body  ye 
shall  live.',  "Set  your  mind  on  things  above,  not  on 
things  on  the  earth."  Ever  before  the  high  Catholic 
imagination  there  floats  the  image  of  "  the  city  that  hath 
the  foundations  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God,"  the 
city  that  is  lightened  by  the  glory  of  God  and  into  which 
"there  shall  in  no  wise  enter  anything  unclean."  The 
Catholic  "saints"  are  the  men  and  women  who  have 
abandoned  everything  for  this  higher  state  into  which 
they  hope  to  come. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was  the  sufferings, 
and  especially  the  martyrdoms,  of  the  early  generations 
of  Christians  that  gave  this  ideal  its  pre-eminence.  Great 
was  the  exercise  of  soul  through  which  those  devoted 
people  succeeded  in  holding  fast  to  their  faith  in  the  pres- 
ence of  some  awful  form  of  death.  The  highest  exercise 
of  faith  seemed  to  appear  in  the  act  of  renouncing  life 
itself.  Thus  the  martyr  became  the  ideal  Christian. 
The  strain  and  excitement  of  those  days  led  to  the 
semi-worship  of  martyrs  and  the  veneration  of  their 
relics.  Paganism  and  Christianity  were  fused.  Other- 
worldliness  became  the  characteristic  Christian  virtue, 
and  it  was  especially  manifested  in  the  grace  of  renuncia- 
tion. When  times  of  great  prosperity  came  to  the  Chris- 
tian community  and  the  growth  of  worldliness  became  a 
source  of  alarm  to  the  purer  spirits,  there  was  in  conse- 
quence an  artificial  attempt  to  preserve  the  martyr  ideal 
and  to  fulfil  it  even  when  there  was  no  persecution  of 
men  to  the  death.     Where  suffering  was  not  compulsorily 


Catholicism  49 

forced  upon  them  from  without,  it  might  nevertheless  be 
enforced  from  within.  The  value  of  voluntary  suffer- 
ing was  exalted  and  salvation  was  made  dependent 
upon  it. 

Naturally,  therefore,  the  suffering  Savior  became  the 
example  of  the  highest  morality.  His  renunciation  of 
his  heavenly  glory,  his  renunciation  of  the  goods  of  earth, 
his  want  even  of  a  place  to  lay  his  head,  his  renunciation 
of  natural  kinships,  and,  finally,  his  renunciation,  on  the 
cross  of  shame,  of  his  own  pure  life  involved  a  demand 
upon  all  his  followers  that  they  also  should  suffer  volun- 
tarily— for  so  did  he.  The  mediaeval  Christ  was  the 
Divine  Sufferer  and  the  mediaeval  Christian  was  he  who 
suffered  with  him  and  for  him.  Suffering  was  glorified. 
The  meritoriousness  of  voluntary  suffering  and  the 
cleansing  power  of  penitential  suffering  became  axioms 
of  mediaeval  ethics. 

The  life  of  the  ancient  hermit  became  the  real  model. 
Retirement  from  the  world,  abandonment  of  its  pleas- 
ures and  sins,  were  marks  of  the  highest  morality.  To 
attain  to  them  human  society  itself  might  have  to  be 
discarded  on  account  of  its  contaminating  influences. 
The  monk  (the  one  who  lives  alone)  became  the  typical 
Christian.  Hence  the  clergy,  as  holy  men,  were  obliged 
to  adopt  the  monastic  ideal.  The  regular  clergy  laid 
down  the  law  for  the  secular  clergy.  But  the  secular 
clergy  met  a  double  temptation,  for  while  they  had  to 
contend  with  the  inner  impulse  that  wars  against  the 
soul,  they  had  the  additional  inducements  to  evil  that 
come  from  without.  Hence  the  sternness  of  the  discip- 
line to  which  they  were  subjected.  A  large  part  of  the 
history  of  the  internal  affairs  of  the  mediaeval  church  is 


50  What  Is  Christianity? 

the  story  of  the  effort  to  carry  this  policy  into  effect 
despite  the  pleadings  or  recalcitrancy  of  human  nature 
in  the  priests.  They  were  compelled  formally  to 
renounce  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil.  In  the 
course  of  the  long  and  bitter  struggle  that  the  imposition 
of  this  injunction  involved,  the  emphasis  naturally  fell 
upon  the  negative  side,  and  from  the  eyes  of  busy  men 
whose  hands  were  full  of  ecclesiastical  politics  the  vision 
of  the  heavenly  world  almost  disappeared. 

Renunciation,  therefore,  is  the  pre-eminent  Catholic 
virtue.  It  has  three  principal  forms,  according  as  the 
natural  world,  human  flesh,  or  the  lordship  of  Satan  may 
be  in  mind — poverty,  chastity,  and  obedience.  This 
trinity  of  virtues  is  one  and  inseparable.  They  are  all 
incumbent  on  both  sexes — for  alongside  the  monk  had 
long  since  appeared  the  nun,  a  competitor  with  him  for 
the  heavenly  reward.  They  are  incumbent  on  all,  but 
not  in  equal  degree,  for  there  are  some  frail  members  of 
humanity  who  can  adopt  the  ideal  only  in  part.  Those 
who  come  short  of  the  full  requirement  shall  have  a  lower 
place  at  the  time  of  the  heavenly  reward. 

The  vow  of  poverty  is  a  judgment  passed  on  the 
striving  for  earthly  wealth  and  power  and  the  clamor  for 
worldly  honor.  Personal  possessions  are  renounced  and, 
like  the  birds  of  the  sky,  man's  dependence  is  placed  on 
the  gifts  of  providence  and  human  charity.  The  monk, 
with  his  shoeless  feet  and  his  begging-bowl,  is  the  emblem 
of  this  virtue.  Poverty  of  dress  and  dwelling  reveals  his 
poverty  of  spirit.  His  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  The 
mediaeval  church  had  the  good  sense  to  perceive  that 
this  could  not  be  demanded  of  all  and  met  the  weak  half- 
way by  accepting  a  partial  renunciation  of  goods  in  the 


Catholicism  5 1 

form  of  gifts  to  the  church,  or  a  limited  asceticism  in  the 
observance  of  fasts  and  holy  seasons,  or  a  performance 
of  penances  for  errors  and  misdeeds,  or  some  worthy 
deed  in  support  of  the  church's  enterprises.  Those 
things  would  put  them  in  partial  possession  of  the  monk's 
virtues.  At  times  a  great  wave  of  popular  feeling  carried 
multitudes  toward  a  fuller  compliance  with  these  de- 
mands. The  mediaeval  crusades,  on  their  better  side, 
were  a  magnificent  tribute  to  the  power  which  the  idea 
of  the  value  of  renunciation  of  earthly  good  exercised  on 
the  minds  of  multitudes  in  a  hard  and  brutal  age.  It  was 
a  time  of  unparalleled  renunciation  of  external  goods  for 
the  sake  of  an  ideal — though,  alas!  the  ideal  was  a  per- 
version of  the  true. 

The  vow  of  chastity  is  a  judgment  of  condemnation 
passed  upon  the  natural  appetites  and  passions.  It  was 
supported  by  the  Augustinian  theory  that  original  sin 
is  propagated  through  concupiscence,  which  is  thereby 
made  out  to  be  the  root  of  all  sinning.  This  vow  brought 
the  ascetic  into  conflict  with  his  inner  nature.  The 
battle  had  to  be  fought  alone.  The  fight  against  nature 
was  a  bitter  one,  indeed,  and  was  often  fought  under  the 
depressing  weight  of  a  soiled  conscience.  The  very 
struggle  against  the  passions  seemed  to  intensify  them, 
for  passion  is  strongest  when  the  thoughts  are  turned 
toward  it.  Moreover,  the  struggle  against  the  proclivi- 
ties of  the  flesh  brought  men  into  conflict  with  the  habits 
and  feelings  that  gather  around  the  life  of  the  home  and 
find  their  nourishment  within  the  family  circle.  But  the 
renunciation  of  the  delights  and  the  loves  of  the  home 
was  made  into  a  virtue.  The  home  life  was  put  on  a 
lower  level  than  the  life  of  the  celibate,  and  marriage 


52  What  Is  Christianity? 

itself  was  put  under  the  ban  to  the  extent  that  it  was 
regarded  as  a  sinful  relation  apart  from  the  sacrament 
which  removed  the  evil  of  it.  Even  so,  the  married  man 
and  woman  were  made  inferior  to  the  celibates.  Mar- 
riage was  rather  tolerated  than  honored.  The  highest 
sanctity  could  be  found  only  in  the  state  of  celibacy. 
The  long  struggle  of  the  papacy  to  enforce  the  law  of 
celibacy  on  the  clergy  is  well  known  to  historians  and  need 
not  detain  us  here.  The  excruciating  agonies  of  many 
celibates — their  fastings,  their  flagellations,  their  tor- 
ments of  their  bodies  by  the  wearing  of  such  garments  as 
hair  shirts,  perhaps  with  iron  barbs  pointing  inward,  and 
other  artificial  methods  of  diverting  the  thoughts  from  evil 
imaginations — are  familiar;  and  so  also  is  their  failure. 

The  human  heart  must  have  its  recompenses.  It 
found  them  in  those  days  and  does  so  still.  Priests, 
deprived  of  the  solace  of  natural  affection,  found  in  the 
Virgin  Mary  a  substitute  for  a  human  bride.  Nuns, 
robbed  of  the  opportunity  to  lavish  their  affections  on 
a  real  human  lover  or  children  of  their  own,  pictured 
themselves  as  the  brides  of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  in  ministry 
to  destitute  children  found  an  outflow  of  tenderness. 
Even  so,  the  natural  craving  for  mutual  love  remained 
unsatisfied  and  often  broke  through  its  bonds,  as  the 
story  of  Abelard  and  Heloise  so  forcibly  reminds  us. 
Moreover,  it  must  be  said  that  the  charms  of  motherhood 
triumphed  over  the  hectic  glow  of  virginity,  for  the  graces 
of  Mary  that  attract  the  admiration  and  longing  of  the 
masses  of  Catholics  do  not  turn  out,  when  analyzed,  to  be 
the  virtues  of  celibacy  but  the  graces  of  motherhood. 
Mary  stands  for  pure  motherhood  after  all,  and  not  for 
a  desolate^ virginity. 


Catholicism  53 

The  vow  of  obedience  is  of  even  higher  rank  than  the 
vows  of  poverty  and  chastity,  for  as  soon  as  Christianity 
is  identified  with  an  ecclesiastical  order  obedience  em- 
braces them  both.  It  stands  for  the  renunciation  of 
both  intellect  and  will.  It  involves  assent  to  the  church's 
teachings,  compliance  with  her  ritual,  and  conformity 
with  her  rules  of  life.  It  is  the  prostration  of  the  whole 
personality  before  its  superior.  Its  fulfilment  would, 
presumably,  remove  all  disorder  and  rebellion  and  make 
all  revolution  impossible.  It  canonizes  the  principle 
of  order. 

3.   CATHOLICISM  AS  AN  INSTITUTIONAL  SYSTEM  OR 
A  CHURCH 

The  early  days  of  Christianity  were  characterized  by 
the  spontaneity  and  sense  of  inspiration  which  accom- 
pany all  great  religious  revivals.  The  hazards  which 
invariably  associate  themselves  with  freedom  were 
rapidly  multiplied  as  the  new  faith  spread.  The  sense 
of  inner  unity  which  was  sufficient  to  secure  a  fair  degree 
of  coherency  among  all  Christians  at  first  soon  became 
an  inadequate  protection  against  the  tendencies  to 
spiritual  disintegration  and  confusion.  Some  kind  of 
government  was  needed  in  order  that  some  kind  of 
order  might  be  preserved.  This  need  was  intensified 
by  the  sufferings  of  Christians  at  the  hands  of  the 
populace  and  the  civil  authorities.  Leaders  competent 
for  the  task  appeared  and  in  time  welded  together  the 
majority  of  the  members  of  the  religious  communion  into 
a  compact  organization  which  succeeded  in  drawing  to 
itself  the  loyalty  of  the  Christian  multitudes  and  in  with- 
standing the  grinding  persecutions  to  which  from  time 


54  What  Is  Christianity? 

to  time  believers  were  subjected.  It  won  the  respect  of 
the  Roman  authorities,  and  finally  the  farseeing  Emperor 
Constantine  succeeded  in  virtually  incorporating  it  with 
the  other  instruments  of  the  imperial  government. 

The  churches  had  now  become  the  church — if  we  do 
not  count  the  numerous  heretics  that  remained  outside 
the  new  corporation  and  maintained  for  a  long  time  a 
vigorous  polemic  against  it.  It  embodied  the  Roman 
imperial  spirit  and  naturally  took  on  more  and  more  the 
forms  of  the  Roman  administration,  though  with  dif- 
ferent names.  When  the  church  divided  into  an  Eastern 
and  a  Western  church,  with  territorial  boundaries  follow- 
ing pretty  closely  the  lines  of  division  between  the  East- 
ern and  Western  empires,  the  government  of  the  two 
churches  became  differentiated  according  to  the  types 
of  political  authority  prevailing  in  the  East  and  the  West 
respectively.  The  Eastern  church  became  an  ecclesias- 
tical hierarchy  after  the  aristocratical  pattern,  with  its 
heads  in  the  many  metropolitan  cities.  The  Western 
church,  with  only  one  great  metropolitan  center,  carried 
the  tendency  to  centralization  of  authority  farther  and 
became  an  ecclesiastical  hierarchy  after  the  monarchical 
pattern.  There  were  many  fathers,  or  popes,  in  the  East, 
but  only  one  Father,  or  Pope,  ultimately  in  the  West. 
To  us  Western  people  he  is  known  simply  as  the  Pope. 

The  course  of  events  through  which  this  development 
was  brought  about  or  the  study  of  the  actual  position  of 
the  Roman  Pope  today  need  not  occupy  our  time  now. 
The  fact  of  the  evolution  and  its  dependence  on  the  exi- 
gencies which  arose  with  time  are  the  significant  things 
which  first  attract  attention,  but  it  is  important  to 
remember  that  to  the  thorough  Catholic  neither  of  these 
is  of  special  account  or,  perhaps,  even  true.     For  him  the 


Catholicism  55 

church  as  an  organization  is  essential  to  Christianity — 
indeed  the  church  and  the  Kingdom  of  God,  or  Chris- 
tianity, are  identical.  The  whole  order  is  of  divine 
institution.  The  works  of  (pseudo)  Dionysius  the  Areop- 
agite,  with  their  supposed  revelation  of  the  heavenly 
hierarchy  upon  which  the  earthly  hierarchy  was  pre- 
sumably modeled,  succeeded  in  impressing  on  the  minds 
of  the  credulous  the  belief  that  the  church  as  an  institu- 
tion, in  the  form  in  which  it  now  exists,  is  the  divine 
institute  of  salvation.  Outside  of  it  there  is  no  Chris- 
tianity. It  is  an  axiom  of  Catholicism,  "  Without  the 
church  is  no  salvation." 

Christianity  is,  therefore,  in  the  end  a  matter  of  gov- 
ernment. Everything  else  in  it  must  be  interpreted  from 
that  point  of  view.  The  monastic  vow  of  obedience  is 
characteristic  of  the  entire  system.  The  whole  complex 
of  ascetical  practices  gets  its  value  thence.  The  peni- 
tential system  of  the  church  is  a  method  of  administra- 
tion. The  ritual  is  observed  as  an  "office"  and  its 
features  have  official  validity  when  observed  with  a  view 
to  doing  what  the  church  does.  That  is,  official  author- 
ity alone  can  give  validity  to  any  act  of  worship  or  serv- 
ice. The  very  virtues  and  graces  which  appear  in  the 
lives  of  men  are  real  only  when  they  issue  from  the 
church's  administrative  acts  in  sacraments.  The  doc- 
trines of  the  church  are  all  essential  to  salvation  because 
assent  to  them  is  the  condition  of  participation  in  the 
church.  They  are  viewed  by  the  Catholics,  not  as  utter- 
ances of  truth  in  itself  and  for  its  own  sake,  but  as 
authoritative  enactments  to  which  the  sacrifice  of  our 
intellect  must  be  made.  In  short,  the  church  is  an  insti- 
tution, divinely  ordered  in  all  its  forms,  to  which  is  com- 
mitted the  charge  to  bring  men  into  the  Kingdom  of  God 


56  What  Is  Christianity? 

by  her  sacraments,  so  that  her  sovereignty  over  the  souls 
of  men  is  exercised  over  the  whole  of  their  natural  life 
and  continues  in  the  case  of  her  members  even  into  the 
world  beyond,  terminating  only  at  the  Judgment  Day. 
The  great  "notes"  of  the  true  church — unity,  uni- 
versality, apostolicity,  holiness — find  their  true  inter- 
pretation here.  Unity:  the  church  is  one,  not  because 
of  a  spiritual  experience  common  to  all  the  members,  but 
because  she  has  one  sole  authority,  speaks  with  one  voice, 
and  conforms  all  to  one  end.  Her  unity  is  really  uni- 
formity, formal  rather  than  vital.  Universality  (catho- 
licity) :  the  church  embraces  all  the  saved,  not  in  the 
inclusive  sense  which  we  might  give  to  the  words  by 
saying  that  wherever  there  is  a  saved  man  there  is  the 
church,  but  in  the  exclusive  sense  that  none  is  saved  ex- 
cept those  within  the  church.  Apostolicity:  the  church 
is  formally  constituted  by  divine  legislation,  in  that 
Jesus  Christ,  true  God,  committed  his  power  and  right 
of  government  to  his  apostles  and  they  have  transmitted 
it  to  their  successors  in  the  apostolic  office  without  defile- 
ment and  without  break  in  continuity  to  the  present, 
and  forever.  Her  rule  is  unquestionable  and  absolute. 
Holiness:  the  church  stands  apart  from,  and  on  a  differ- 
ent level  from,  all  other  institutions,  in  that  all  saving 
grace  is  deposited  in  her  as  an  institution.  This  is  not 
to  be  understood  as  meaning  that  all  her  members  are 
actually  morally  pure,  for  many  are  notoriously  impure. 
It  means  that  in  her  sacraments  and  all  her  official  acts 
there  is  a  mysterious,  heavenly  quality  which  effects  the 
redemption  of  all  who  receive  them.  Her  pope  and  all 
her  priesthood  are  holy,  not  in  the  sense  that  they  are 
truly  good  men,  but  as  officials.     A  man  might  be  a  bad 


Catholicism  57 

man  and  be  a  good  priest  or  a  good  pope.  The  efficacy 
of  the  office  in  no  sense  depends  on  the  character  of  the 
man  who  officiates  in  it.  Salvation  is  wholly  a  matter 
of  church. 

4.   CATHOLICISM  AS  A  PHILOSOPHY  OR  BODY  OF  DOCTRINES 

Catholicism  is  not  so  much  a  philosophy  as  it  is  an 
order  of  life.  Its  interest  in  philosophy  is  secondary. 
For  the  spirit  that  governs  philosophy  is  the  love  of 
truth,  and  its  characteristic  activity  is  inquiry,  investi- 
gation, speculation.  By  contrast,  Catholicism  is  fear- 
some in  regard  to  inquiry  and  seeks  to  regulate  it  in  the 
interest  of  an  established  order.  Its  characteristic  atti- 
tude of  mind  is  receptiveness,  and  of  will,  submission. 

Yet  it  has  a  use  for  philosophy  and  has  never  hesi- 
tated to  avail  itself  of  the  help  philosophy  can  give.  It 
resorts  to  philosophy  as  a  means  of  vindication  rather 
than  as  a  weapon  of  attack.  Its  philosophy  is  apologeti- 
cal  in  aim,  conservative  in  temper,  and  suspicious  of 
every  new  movement  of  thought.  Its  theology,  in  con- 
sequence, is  opportunist  in  principle  and  refrains  from 
setting  forth  an  entire  system  of  doctrines  (dogmas). 
While  it  professes  to  have  come  into  possession  of  a  com- 
plete body  of  dogmas  by  tradition,  these  are  held  partly 
in  reserve,  and  particular  dogmas  are  announced  only  as 
occasion  calls  for  them.  If  one  examines  the  Catholic 
creeds,  canons,  and  decrees,  beginning  with  the  Apostles' 
Creed  and  ending  with  the  encyclical  Pascendi  Gregis,  he 
will  find  that  they  seek  not  so  much  to  furnish  the  people 
with  positive  doctrines  as  to  warn  them  against  current 
heresy.  The  declarations  of  councils  and  popes  on  these 
matters  commonly  conclude  with  anathemas. 


58  What  Is  Christianity  ? 

While  the  attitude  of  Catholicism  toward  contem- 
porary philosophy  has  varied  from  age  to  age,  we  may 
say  that  the  relations  of  early  Catholicism  with  secular 
philosophy  were  much  more  intimate  than  those  of  later 
Catholicism,  when  Catholic  Christianity  had  become 
strictly  institutional.  Early  Catholic  thought  absorbed 
the  mystical  and  metaphysical  spirit  of  the  times,  while 
later  Catholic  thought  turned  to  the  practical  necessities 
of  church  government.  The  former  sought  to  vindicate 
the  idea  of  salvation  by  mysteries  (sacraments)  and  issued 
in  a  theory  of  the  universe.  The  latter  sought  to  vindi- 
cate the  idea  of  salvation  through  the  mediating  action  of 
the  church  and  issued  in  a  theory  of  the  government  of  the 
world.     The  two  are  mingled  in  Catholic  orthodoxy. 

The  Catholic  theory  of  the  universe  is,  in  brief,  that 
there  are  two  worlds,  disparate,  separate,  and  distinct. 
They  may  be  variously  named — the  natural  and  the 
supernatural,  the  physical  and  the  spiritual,  the  earthly 
and  the  heavenly,  the  secular  and  the  holy,  the  temporal 
and  the  eternal,  the  human  and  the  divine — according 
to  the  point  of  view  from  which  they  are  considered.  In 
the  lower  of  these  two  worlds  darkness,  error,  sin,  and 
death  are  found;  in  the  higher,  light,  truth,  purity,  and 
immortality.  Man  belongs  to  the  lower,  but  has  long- 
ings for  the  higher  and  by  redemption  may  attain  to  it. 
He  is  unable  of  himself  to  rise  to  it.  For  while  his  facul- 
ties fit  him  to  know  the  lower  world  and  even  to  infer 
from  it  the  existence  of  the  Supreme  Being  in  the  higher 
world  to  whom  this  lower  world  owes  its  existence,  he  is 
unable  to  know  the  character  of  that  higher  world  by 
the  exercise  of  natural  powers  and,  for  this,  he  is  depend- 
ent on  a  supernatural  communication. 


Catholicism  59 

At  this  point  the  theory  of  the  world  becomes  a  theory 
of  revelation  and  redemption.  There  come  from  time 
to  time,  in  ways  altogether  beyond  our  finite  compre- 
hension, supernatural  communications,  miraculously 
attested,  from  this  higher  world,  and  with  them  also 
supernatural  bestowments  of  ineffable  power.  The 
instruments  of  these  communications  are  holy,  inspired 
men,  and  particularly  selected  portions  or  articles  of  the 
natural  world  containing  in  themselves  the  mysterious 
potencies  which  purify  and  immortalize  our  souls.  He 
who  subjects  himself  to  these  holy  instruments  will  be 
saved. 

When  these  mysterious  powers  became  concentrated 
in  the  hands  of  a  hierarchy  possessing  the  sole  right 
to  administer  them,  this  early  metaphysic  became  inter- 
twined with  a  philosophy  of  human  history.  This  is 
virtually  given  above  in  the  theory  of  Catholicism  as 
church.  It  is  a  theory  of  government,  divine  and  human. 
The  government  of  the  heavenly  world  is  immediately 
by  God  and  his  angels,  but  the  government  of  the  earthly 
world  is  mediate  and  is  ministered  through  divinely 
ordained  and  consecrated  agencies.  These  instruments 
of  the  heavenly  government  are  given  authority  over 
all  natural  forms  of  government  and  carry  out  through 
them  indirectly  the  will  of  heaven,  while  in  the  distinc- 
tively supernatural  activities  on  earth  the  church  alone 
has  a  right  to  rule.  A  system  of  rewards  for  merit  and 
of  punishment  for  sins,  valid  for  this  world  and  the 
heavenly  world  as  well,  thereby  comes  to  light  and  is  put 
into  execution.  This  has  now  come  to  be  the  Catholic 
interpretation  of  Christianity. 


CHAPTER  III 
MYSTICISM 

The  transition  from  Catholicism  to  mysticism  seems 
at  first  so  sharp  that  it  is  almost  as  if  one  had  entered 
into  a  different  world.  Catholicism  stands  out  against 
the  sky-line  of  life  in  such  massive  form  that  it  commands 
the  attention  and  anxious  regard  even  of  those  who  are 
without  serious  interest  in  religion.  It  seeks  to  lay  its 
hand  on  the  helm  of  human  life  and  to  direct  all  affairs 
down  to  the  smallest  details,  in  order  that  humanity  may 
reach  the  eternal  harbor.  It  glories  in  the  outward 
marks  of  greatness  and  symbols  of  authority — vast  build- 
ings, powerful  organizations  of  men,  priests  robed  in 
splendor,  pompous  processions,  mysterious  pantomimes, 
and  gorgeous  liturgies — all  calculated  to  impress  and 
subdue  even  the  most  rebellious.  It  shrinks  not  from 
calling  upon  armies  and  navies  to  do  battle  for  its  cause 
and  to  destroy  its  foes.  It  has  gone  so  far  as  to  seek  to 
divide  the  territories  of  the  earth  among  its  faithful 
servants. 

Mysticism,  on  the  contrary,  loves  retirement.  It 
seeks  to  dwell  within  the  secret  recesses  of  the  soul.  It 
cherishes  secluded  and  lonely  places  where  it  may  give 
itself  to  meditation  and  aspiration  undisturbed.  It  stig- 
matizes worldly  ambition  and  worldly  power  as  vain, 
and  cherishes  instead  the  inner  contemplation  and  vision 
of  the  heavenly.  It  scorns  material  and  fleshly  things 
while  it  revels  in  the  unseen  and  worships  in  the  spirit. 

60 


Mysticism  61 

Catholicism  and  mysticism  seem  to  be  in  direct  antith- 
esis. On  closer  analysis,  however,  it  may  turn  out 
that  there  comes  into  view  such  a  close  affinity  between 
them  that  we  are  unable  any  longer  to  regard  mysticism 
merely  as  a  reaction  against  Catholicism,  but  to  see  in  it 
one  of  the  chief  est  supports  of  that  great  system.  At  any 
rate,  many  famous  mystics  have  found  their  home  in  the 
Catholic  church. 

The  word  "mystic"  is  connected  with  the  Greek  word 
which  is  transliterated  " mystery"  in  English  and,  like 
it,  is  derived  from  a  root  meaning  "  to  close  or  shut."  A 
mystery  is  something  hidden  or  secret.  Among  the 
Greeks  there  were  secret  religious  orders  whose  members 
were  initiated  by  submitting  to  ceremonies  unknown  to 
outsiders  and  by  which  they  were  supposed  to  become 
the  recipients  of  a  species  of  higher  enlightenment  and 
thus  to  enter  into  oneness  of  life  with  the  divinity  in 
whose  name  these  ceremonies  were  observed.  The  door 
to  this  higher  light  was  closed  to  the  uninitiated.  In 
the  course  of  time  the  term  mysticism  has  become 
detached  from  any  necessary  connection  with  the  observ- 
ance of  secret  ceremonies.  Anyone  may  now  be  called 
a  mystic  who  claims  to  have  received  into  the  secrecy  of 
his  spirit  a  higher  knowledge  than  can  be  imparted  by 
the  ordinary  methods  of  intelligence.  The  term  mysti- 
cism may  be  used  as  descriptive  of  this  attitude  of  mind, 
or,  more  properly,  of  the  theory  that  supports  it. 

One  might  ask,  Does  mysticism  as  a  state  of  mind 
spring  from  the  ancient  Mysteries  ?  It  may  be  that  the 
theory  of  insight  which  bears  the  name  of  mysticism 
among  Christians  is  one  of  the  consequences  of  introdu- 
cing the  practices  of  the  Mysteries  into  early  Christian 


62  What  Is  Christianity? 

communities ;  but  these  Mysteries  themselves  are  rooted 
deeply  in  that  sense  of  awe  and  ignorance  that  comes 
over  men  everywhere,  in  crude  civilizations  and  in  the 
most  refined,  when  they  face  the  baffling  problem  of  the 
meaning  of  the  world.  The  Inexplicable  stares  at  man 
on  every  hand,  and  the  deep  depression  which  he  feels 
in  the  face  of  it  begets  a  reaction  in  his  soul.  He  struggles 
to  gain  by  one  grand  leap  into  the  unknown  the  possession 
of  those  eternities  which  he  seeks  in  vain  by  the  slow  and 
laborious  processes  of  piecemeal  study. 

Does  mysticism,  then,  stand  for  a  religious  view  of 
things  ?  Not  in  the  narrow  sense  of  religion  as  faith  in  a 
higher  person.  But  in  that  looser  sense  of  religion  which 
denotes  the  soul's  commitment  to  the  highest  meaning 
of  all  reality  it  is  descriptive  of  a  type  of  religion.  Indeed, 
the  thoroughgoing  mystic  would  hold  that  mysticism  is 
the  essence  of  all  religion  and  contains  the  hidden  truth 
in  all  religions.  All  else  is  incidental  or  secondary  for 
him.  Christian  mysticism  claims  to  be  the  true  and 
final  interpretation  of  Christianity. 

The  true  mystic  devotes  himself  supremely  to  the 
cultivation  of  what  he  calls  the  inner  life.  Now,  inas- 
much as  every  kind  of  religion  is  rooted  ultimately  in 
some  quality  of  the  human  spirit,  mysticism  is  very 
intimately  related  to  religion  universally  and  may  be 
affiliated  with  any  and  every  kind.  Mystics  everywhere 
have  an  inner  likeness  to  one  another,  but  they  are  likely 
to  differ  as  the  religions  with  which  they  are  connected 
differ  from  one  another.  The  Christian  mystic  and  the 
Mohammedan  mystic  will  be  mutually  sympathetic,  but 
each  of  them  will  bear  some  of  the  special  characteristics 
of  his  religious  connections.     Similarly  with  regard  to 


Mysticism  63 

the  mystics  of  other  faiths.  Mysticism  may  suffer  modi- 
fication according  to  the  kind  of  positive  religion  with 
which  it  may  be  associated,  but  it  seeks  to  find  the  ulti- 
mate in  all  religions.  It  tries  to  penetrate  to  that  which 
underlies  all  the  different  religions  and  also  to  transcend 
them  and  melt  their  many  colors  in  the  pure,  white  light 
of  perfect  truth.  Their  worship,  their  social  customs, 
their  organizations,  their  creeds,  are  only  symbols  of  that 
which  is  higher  than  they,  only  temporary  resting-places 
for  the  human  spirit  as  it  rises  to  the  height  of  that 
supreme  experience  when  it  is  one  with  the  ultimate 
reality — whatever  these  words  may  mean.  If,  then, 
mysticism  is  religion,  it  is  also  more  than  religion,  in  the 
common  sense  of  that  term.  It  is  that  out  of  which 
religion  rises  and  that  in  which  religion  culminates.  So, 
at  least,  its  advocates  in  substance  affirm. 

This  is  not  the  same  as  to  reduce  all  religions  to  the 
one  level.  All  religions  have  their  symbols  by  which 
they  seek  to  express  the  ultimate  truth  to  which  they 
strive  to  attain,  but  some  of  them  reach  up  vastly  higher 
than  others  and  minister  more  effectually  to  the  soul's 
progress.  Mysticism  does  not  reject  the  supremacy  of 
Christianity  among  religions  unless  it  find  some  other 
faith  that  brings  the  soul  nearer  to  its  goal.  Mysticism 
may  profess  to  be  the  true  interpretation  of  Christianity 
and  therewith  the  final  interpretation  of  all  religions. 

It  is  possible  to  distinguish  different  types  of  mysti- 
cism according  as  they  accentuate  this  or  that  function 
of  the  human  spirit.  Their  interpretations  of  Chris- 
tianity will  differ  correspondingly.  There  is  what  we  may 
call  an  aesthetic  mysticism,  which  exalts  the  worth  of  the 
feeling  experience.    As  the  material  world  around  us 


64  What  Is  Christianity? 

communicates  itself  to  us  through  our  physical  senses,  so 
also  through  the  higher  sensibility  the  world  of  higher 
being  registers  itself  upon  our  receptive  spirituality  and 
emancipates  us  from  bondage  to  the  things  of  physical 
sense.  As  the  painter  looking  upon  a  scene  in  nature 
finds  that  it  reflects  itself  upon  his  soul  in  a  manner 
unknown  to  the  mere  physicist  or  biologist,  and  as  he 
tries  to  reveal  his  secret  to  his  fellows  by  the  magic 
strokes  of  his  brush;  as  the  musician  catches  rhythms 
and  detects  harmonies  in  the  universe  which  remain 
unrecorded  by  the  toes t  and  most  sensitive  instruments 
known  to  science  because  they  belong  to  a  different  order 
of  sensation,  so  the  spirit  of  the  mystic  as  it  lies  open  to 
the  impress  of  the  spiritual  world  feels  floating  into  itself 
that  Reality  of  all  existence  which  eye  hath  not  seen  and 
ear  hath  not  heard  but  which  the  Infinite  Spirit  conveys 
to  our  higher  sensibility.  In  this  "absolute  sensation," 
as  it  has  been  called,  that  whole  of  reality  of  which  only 
fragments  are  disclosed  to  the  artist  and  the  musician 
comes  to  us  in  an  instant.  Then  are  we  at  rest.  Then 
are  we  satisfied.  Such  a  mysticism,  if  professedly  Chris- 
tian, would  interpret  Christianity  as  the  religion  of  pure, 
simple,  unalloyed,  perfect  feeling,  the  religion  of  perfect 
peace. 

There  is  a  speculative  mysticism,  a  mysticism  based 
on  the  primacy  of  thought.  "I  think,"  said  the  great 
Descartes,  "therefore  I  am."  Thought  possessed,  for 
him,  the  solution  of  the  riddle  of  the  universe.  The 
great  speculative  and  psychological  movements  of  the 
last  three  centuries  are  a  modern  tribute  to  the  greatness 
of  thought.  Socrates  and  Plato  and  Aristotle  virtually 
said  the  same  of  old  when  they  sought  to  disclose  its 


Mysticism  65 

mysterious  powers  to  their  hearers.  Logicians  have 
sought  to  unfold  the  immanent  order  in  it.  Idealist 
philosophers  have  sought  to  construct  a  universe  for  our 
human  intelligence  under  its  sole  imperial  authority. 
"  My  God,  I  think  thy  thoughts  after  thee,"  said  a  votary 
of  thought.  There  is  an  Absolute  Thought  which  is  the 
truth  of  all  our  individual  thinking  and  the  guaranty 
of  its  trustworthiness,  say  many.  Who  has  not  felt  a 
mighty  inspiration  as  he  discovers  that  he  can  enter  into 
this  thought-universe  and  make  it  his  own?  Yet  the 
processes  of  our  actual  thinking  are  often  slow  and  falter- 
ing. Our  best  reasoning  is  precarious  at  times.  The 
axioms  of  an  earlier  generation  may  be  a  source  of 
skepticism  in  a  later.  Science  proceeds  by  means  of 
regular  processes,  but  she  splits  up  the  world  of  our 
thinking  into  sections  and  places  an  interrogation  point 
after  everything.  Nothing  is  settled  hereby.  Even 
idealistic  philosophy  proceeds  to  the  discovery  of  its 
Absolute  by  the  slow  and  involved  method  of  construing 
it  through  its  self -revelation  in  the  relative  and  manifold. 
But  mysticism  professes  to  know  the  Absolute  from 
within  and  by  immediate  communion  with  the  Totality 
of  all  things. 

There  is  also  an  ethical  mysticism,  a  mysticism  that 
professes  identity  with  the  Absolute  Will.  The  theory 
reposes  on  the  consciousness  of  moral  compulsion  which 
is  felt  so  mightily  by  some  people.  In  all  ages  and  among 
all  peoples  there  have  been  persons  who  took  a  path  in 
life  all  their  own,  defying,  perchance,  hoary  traditions 
and  sacred  customs  and  even  setting  their  own  will 
against  the  weight  of  the  world,  because  they  felt  they 
could  do  no  other.     These  people  say  that  a  voice 


66  What  Is  Christianity? 

within,  like  the  daemon  of  Socrates,  speaks  to  them  in 
great  crises  of  their  lives,  saying,  "This  is  the  way;  walk 
thou  in  it."  They  are  found  in  the  greatest  numbers  at 
turning-points  of  human  history  and  they  prove  to  be 
rallying-centers  for  men  of  less  firm  conviction;  or  they 
bring  terror  to  their  friends  and  wrath  upon  themselves 
by  a  stubborn  adherence  to  a  sense  of  duty  that  often 
seems  unreasonable  to  others  and  of  which  they  can  give 
no  reasoned  account  to  themselves.  They  have  heard 
the  Voice  and  that  is  enough  for  them.  When  such  an 
attitude  of  mind  is  treated  as  a  philosophic  principle 
grounding  an  ethical  interpretation  of  the  world,  we 
have  ethical  mysticism.  Kant's  great  doctrine  of  the 
Categorical  Imperative,  the  absolute  dictum  of  the  self- 
legislative  practical  reason,  the  moral  law  which  demands 
its  own  fulfilment  and  refuses  to  be  identified  with  any 
particular  or  empirical  act,  is  an  instance  of  this  ethical 
mysticism. 

Summing  up  the  results  of  our  study  thus  far  we  can 
say:  There  is  a  tendency  to  mysticism  in  all  men,  but 
the  strength  of  it  varies  in  different  peoples  and  different 
individuals.  Men  commonly  experience  uprisings  of 
feeling  that  carry  them  on  irresistibly  toward  some  end 
which  they  would  never  have  deliberately  chosen;  or 
they  have  intuitions  of  unseen  things,  visions  of  higher 
worlds,  anticipations  of  coming  events,  which  hold  their 
minds  enchained  and  with  which  they  would  not  part, 
though  there  may  seem  no  way  of  proving  the  truth  of 
these  foregleams;  or  they  experience  the  constraining 
power  of  some  greater  personality  or  higher  will,  and  the 
bondage  to  it  is  dearer  to  them  than  liberty  itself.  When 
the  attempt  is  made  to  unfold  a  philosophy  on  such  a 


Mysticism  67 

basis  we  have  genuine  mysticism.  Mysticism,  then, 
is  a  philosophy.  It  is  a  philosophy  that  aspires  to  be  a 
religion  by  securing  for  men  the  high  results  that  religion 
seeks.  If,  in  the  narrower  view  of  it,  we  may  call  it  a 
philosophy  of  religion,  it  is  a  philosophy  of  religion  that 
takes  the  mystical  element  in  religion  and  attempts  to 
treat  that  as  the  essence  of  all  religions. 

As  a  philosophy  mysticism  has  a  threefold  aspect: 
first,  it  is  a  theory  of  knowledge;  secondly,  it  is  a  theory 
of  existence;  thirdly,  it  is  a  theory  of  life.  In  each  of 
these  it  has  a  positive  and  a  negative  side.  (1)  As  a 
theory  of  knowledge,  negatively,  it  points  out  the  limita- 
tions of  the  methods  of  logic  and  of  science.  Neither  an 
analysis  of  the  processes  of  thought  nor  a  synthesis  of 
particulars  can  lead  us  beyond  the  partial  and  incom- 
plete. The  All,  the  Totality,  the  Infinite,  lie  beyond 
and  cannot  be  approached  by  the  dissection  of  present 
knowledge  or  by  adding  portion  to  portion.  Agnosticism 
and  despair  can  be  avoided  only  by  renouncing  the  pride 
of  intellect  and  laying  one's  soul  open  to  the  Infinite. 
Then,  positively,  we  know  the  All  because  it  has  become 
our  very  self.  (2)  As  a  theory  of  existence  it  denies 
the  reality  of  things  perceived  by  sense,  because  these  are 
only  transient.  Only  that  which  forever  is,  truly  is. 
The  particular  objects  we  know  are  only  the  notes  in  an 
eternal  harmony.  The  separate  notes  are  nothing  in 
themselves,  and  as  long  as  we  think  of  them  we  never 
catch  the  tune.  The  notes  are  lost  in  the  tune.  That 
alone  remains.  (3)  As  a  theory  of  life,  mysticism  seeks  to 
raise  men  above  legalism  and  tradition  with  their  atten- 
tion to  specific  acts,  by  which  no  man  can  be  saved,  and 
to  lead  them  to  the  absolute  surrender  which  puts  one  in 


68  What  Is  Christianity? 

possession  of  the  power  of  the  Infinite  Will.  Then  only 
have  we  attained.  Then  only  are  we  saved  from  the  love 
of  the  changing  and  temporary.  Then  only  are  we 
delivered  from  the  passions  and  aims  that  feed  on  the 
things  which  pass  away. 

Without  pursuing  the  general  study  of  mysticism 
farther  we  may  now  point  out  more  specifically  the  inter- 
pretation it  puts  upon  Christianity.  We  shall  begin 
the  examination  of  Christian  mysticism  by  indicating 
the  degree  of  prominence  it  obtains  in  the  whole  Chris- 
tian movement  and  then  proceed  to  indicate  its  out- 
standing characteristics,  its  method,  and,  finally,  its 
strength  and  its  weakness  as  a  spiritual  movement. 

I.   THE  APPEARING  OF  MYSTICISM  IN  HISTORICAL 
CHRISTIANITY 

Mysticism  as  a  philosophy  of  the  Christian  religion 
finds  ample  footing  in  the  faith  of  the  early  communities 
of  believers.  The  earliest  believers,  being  mostly  Jews 
or  proselytes,  naturally  carried  with  them  into  the  new 
faith  the  deep  regard  for  dreams,  trances,  visions,  and 
apparitions  which  remained  over  in  Judaism  after  divina- 
tion, soothsaying,  and  witchcraft  had  been  put  under 
the  ban.  Through  these  abnormal  experiences  messages 
came  to  them,  sometimes  from  the  mouths  of  angel  visi- 
tants and  sometimes  directly  from  their  God,  conveying 
an  intelligence  of  things  in  a  higher  realm  than  could 
be  reached  by  the  common  mind  of  men.  There  were 
ecstatic  experiences  when  the  subject  was  carried  into  the 
heavenly  world  and  heard  and  saw  unspeakable  things. 
The  Jewish  prophetic  inspiration — the  sense  of  being  the 
instrument  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,  the  consciousness 


Mysticism  69 

of  an  inward  burden  of  the  Lord  and  of  the  possession 
of  a  foresight  of  things  to  come^-was  cherished  and  inten- 
sified in  Christians.  The  range  of  this  gift  was  greatly 
widened  so  as  to  be  enjoyed  by  multitudes  of  common 
believers  if  not  by  all  of  them.  These  things  and  the 
extraordinary  powers  that  accompanied  them  were 
looked  upon  as  marks  of  the  special  favor  of  God.  Mys- 
tical utterances  of  a  profound  order  occur  not  infre- 
quently in  the  Hebrew  and  Jewish  Scriptures,  especially 
in  the  later  pre-Christian  days:  "As  the  hart  panteth 
after  the  water-brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  thee, 

0  God."  "Cast  me  not  away  from  thy  presence  and 
take  not  thy  Holy  Spirit  from  me."  "My  soul  waiteth 
in  silence  for  God  only."  "He  that  dwelleth  in  the 
secret  place  of  the  most  high  shall  abide  under  the  shadow 
of  the  Almighty."  "Whither  shall  I  go  from  thy  Spirit 
and  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence?"     "When 

1  awake,  I  am  still  with  thee."  These  sayings  relate  to 
spiritual  states  that  do  not  seem  capable  of  being  placed 
under  the  action  of  the  logical  intelligence. 

The  New  Testament  abounds  in  mystical  utterances. 
The  Synoptic  Gospels  ascribe  some  of  them  to  Jesus: 
"Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart;  for  they  shall  see  God." 
"Blessed  art  thou  ....  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not 
revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven." 
"No  one  knoweth  the  Son,  save  the  Father;  neither  doth 
any  know  the  Father,  save  the  Son  and  he  to  whom  the 
Son  willeth  to  reveal  him."  Jesus  himself  is  said  to  have 
assured  his  disciples  that  he  would  be  a  mystical  presence 
with  them:  "Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together 
in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them."  The 
tendency  to  emphasize  these  experiences  grew  with  the 


70  What  Is  Christianity? 

accession  of  converts  from  the  Graeco-Roman  peoples, 
who  brought  with  them  into  the  Christian  communion  a 
vague  yearning  and  reverence  for  the  secret  and  ineffable 
in  life,  and  they  naturally  viewed  the  Christian  message 
and  the  accompanying  rites  as  bringing  these  to  men  in  a 
fuller  sense  than  had  ever  been  known  before.  Paul  has 
much  to  say  to  his  Greek  readers  on  the  theme  of  the 
higher  knowledge  obtained  through  the  Spirit  of  Christ, 
which  was  to  him  the  same  as  the  Spirit  of  God.  One 
or  two  quotations  here  must  suffice:  "We  speak  a  wisdom 
not  of  this  world,  God's  wisdom  in  a  mystery,  even  the 
wisdom  that  hath  been  hidden.  Things  which  eye  saw 
not  and  ear  heard  not,  God  hath  revealed  unto  us  through 
the  Spirit:  for  the  Spirit  searcheth  all  things,  yea  the 
deep  things  of  God."  This  inward  illumination  of  Paul's 
became  the  very  presence  of  the  Son  of  God  within  him: 
"It  pleased  God  to  reveal  his  Son  in  me I  con- 
ferred not  with  flesh  and  blood."  The  experience  was 
one  that  transformed  his  very  being.  "We  all  with 
unveiled  face,  beholding  as  in  a  mirror  the  glory  of  the 
Lord,  are  transformed  into  the  same  image  from  glory 
to  glory,  even  as  from  the  Lord  the  Spirit."  These 
experiences  were  to  him  revelations  of  abiding  realities 
in  contrast  with  the  passing  things  of  this  world:  "We 
look  not  at  the  things  that  are  seen  but  at  the  things 
that  are  not  seen;  for  the  things  that  are  seen  are  tem- 
poral, but  the  things  that  are  not  seen  are  eternal." 

The  mystical  tendency  is  greatly  accentuated  in  the 
Johannine  writings  and  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 
The  heavenly  and  the  earthly  stand  apart;  the  latter  at 
best  is  only  a  symbol  of  the  former.  Similarly  also  as 
respects  flesh  and  spirit,  God  and  man  or  the  world: 


Mysticism  7 1 

"That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh  and  that  which 
is  born  of  the  spirit  is  spirit."  "Men  loved  the  darkness 
rather  than  the  light."  "He  that  is  of  the  earth  is  of  the 
earth  and  of  the  earth  he  speaketh :  he  that  cometh  from 
heaven  is  above  all."  "Ye  are  of  this  world;  I  am  not  of 
this  world."  The  things  of  the  earth  are  only  "copies  of 
the  things  in  the  heavens"  at  best,  and  not  the  heavenly- 
things  themselves.  The  former  are  the  "  things  that  are 
shaken"  and  will  be  removed,  while  the  latter  cannot  be 
shaken,  but  remain  forever.  Correspondingly,  there  is  a 
higher  enlightenment,  even  an  enlightenment  that  makes 
men  one  with  God:  By  faith  men  "endure  as  seeing  him 
who  is  invisible."  They  come  to  the  heavenly  city  and  to 
God  himself.     "Ye  have  an  unction  from  the  Holy  One 

and  ye  know  all  things Ye  need  not  that  any  one 

teach  you."  "We  are  of  God:  he  that  knoweth  God 
heareth  us."  Here  is  the  life  of  supreme  love.  "He 
that  loveth  is  begotten  of  God  and  knoweth  God."  The 
new  birth,  the  new  knowledge,  the  love  of  God,  are  all 
one.  In  this  believers  are  made  one  with  God  and  Christ: 
"If  a  man  love  me  he  will  keep  my  word;  and  my  father 
will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him  and  make  our 
abode  with  him."  There  is  a  penetration  of  their  being 
with  Christ  and  God.  "I  in  them  and  thou  in  me,  that 
they  may  be  perfected  into  one."  Here  appears,  at 
least  on  first  glance,  the  realization  of  the  mystical  long- 
ing. Passages  of  such  import  as  the  foregoing  might  be 
indefinitely  multiplied.  Mysticism  sees  in  them  the 
utterance  of  the  very  essence  of  the  Christian  religion. 
While  the  mystical  expressions  of  the  New  Testament 
retain  the  strong  moral  coloring  of  the  Jewish  faith,  the 
ethical  spirit  is  much  less  manifest  in  the  mysticism  of 


72  What  Is  Christianity? 

the  ancient  Catholic  church  and  at  times  seems  to  fall 
entirely  away.  When  the  Christian  communion  became 
gentile  and  began  to  naturalize  itself  in  the  world,  the 
sluices  by  which  the  mingling  types  of  spiritual  life  in  the 
Graeco-Roman  world  flowed  into  it  were  thrown  wide 
open,  with  the  result  that  the  mystical  tendencies  in 
early  Christianity  asserted  themselves  with  increasing 
strength  and  took  on  more  and  more  the  character  of  the 
non-ethical  spiritual  yearnings  of  the  age.  Then,  too, 
the  more  the  church  found  itself  in  organized  opposition 
to  the  secular  power  of  Rome  the  more  deeply  her  com- 
municants felt  that  their  ideal  must  be  the  purely  spirit- 
ual and  the  more  it  needed  a  mystical  interpretation  of 
the  universe  as  a  support.  Several  types  of  mysticism 
became  prominent. 

In  Montanism  the  heated  and  florid  Phrygian  imagi- 
nation was  fired  by  the  idea  that  in  the  bestowal  of  the 
Paraclete  by  Christ  the  summit  of  spiritual  possibility 
lay  open  to  all  those  who  would  obey  the  law  of  its  impar- 
tation.  By  ecstatic  experience,  furthered  by  the  ascetic 
life,  the  human  spirit  could  become  identical  with  the 
Holy  Spirit  and  able  to  utter  truth  that  transcended  the 
teachings  of  the  Christian  tradition  as  much  as  these 
transcended  the  Jewish  law.  These  utterances  could 
be  subjected  to  no  outer  test,  but  carried  their  authority 
in  themselves.  Absolute  prophetic  inspiration  was  ob- 
tained. 

In  the  movement  known  as  Gnosticism,  that  threat- 
ened to  make  the  Christian  gospel  a  revealed  philosophy 
and  the  Christian  church  a  pagan  mystery-society,  there 
was  an  effort  to  unite  the  faith  in  the  divine  saviorhood 
of  Christ  with  a  speculative  cosmology  and  systems  of 


Mysticism  73 

secret  initiations  that  introduced  men  to  the  ultimate 
knowledge  that  would  redeem  them  from  the  delusions 
of  materiality  and  the  sins  that  issued  from  error,  and 
would  impart  to  them  the  bliss  of  becoming  an  organ  of 
divinity.  On  account  of  the  immoral  pagan  practices 
associated  with  it  and  on  account  of  its  nullification  of 
the  real  character  of  many  Christian  traditions,  it  was 
rejected  by  the  church,  but  its  power  was  not  overthrown. 
In  the  revived  Platonism  represented  by  such  great 
thinkers  as  Plotinus  and  Porphyry  the  inner  spirit  of 
Gnosticism  was  restored  and  became  the  very  nerve  of 
the  Christian  dogma.  In  the  neo-Platonic  system  there 
was  a  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  material  world  through  a 
descending  series  of  emanations  from  the  One  (God)  that 
is  above  all  existence,  and  a  theory  of  the  re-ascent  of  the 
human  soul  to  that  supreme  region  from  which  it  origi- 
nated, till  it  is  again  one  with  God,  "the  alone  with  the 
Alone."  This  is  made  out  to  be  the  Christian  redemp- 
tion. This  is  the  theory  that,  in  its  essence,  underlies 
the  dogma  of  the  two  natures  of  Christ  and  the  Trinity. 
Hence  we  may  say  that  in  the  ancient  creeds  and  the 
ritual  that  was  inseparable  from  them  mysticism  received 
its  christening  and  became  established  in  the  right  of 
Christian  citizenship. 

The  great  Augustine  in  his  speculations  and  medi- 
tations took  up  the  parable  of  mysticism.  By  inter- 
weaving it  into  his  own  profound  spiritual  experiences, 
the  activities  of  the  Catholic  church,  the  Christian  Scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  the  great 
conception  of  history  as  unfolding  the  fulfilment  of  a 
universal  divine  government,  he  secured  for  mysticism  a 
dominating  influence  in  the  church  of  the  West.  In  the 


74  What  Is  Christianity? 

mediaeval  Western  church  the  mystical  tendency  became 
prolific  in  producing  great  spiritual  struggles  and  enter- 
prises. It  fostered  the  spirit  of  protest  against  the 
worldliness  and  corruption  of  the  Roman  church  and 
stirred  up  rebellion  against  her  authority.  It  awoke  into 
speculative  inquiry  great  theologians,  like  Hugo  and 
Richard  de  St.  Victor,  Bonaventura,  and  Thomas 
Aquinas,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  modern  Catholic 
orthodoxy.  It  created  free  religious  associations  of  men 
in  various  countries  for  the  cultivation  of  an  independent 
piety.  It  helped  to  arouse  the  zeal  of  preachers  like 
St.  Bernard,  ecclesiastics  like  Hildebrand,  saints  like 
Francis.  It  helped  pave  the  way  for  the  Protestant 
Reformation.  The  quietism  of  Madame  Guyon  and 
the  warm  piety  of  Catholic  Modernists  are  evidences  of 
its  survival  in  Catholicism. 

Mysticism  has  had  a  large  place  in  Protestantism. 
The  " inner  word"  of  the  Anabaptists,  outranking  and 
interpreting  the  written  or  outer  word,  the  all-sufficient 
" faith"  of  Luther,  the  "secret  witness  of  the  Spirit"  of 
Calvin  and  his  followers,  the  " spiritual  universe"  of 
Boehme,  the  " inner  light"  that  George  Fox  and  the 
Quakers  recognized  in  the  soul  of  every  man,  the  "soul 
liberty"  of  the  Baptists,  the  "heart-religion"  of  the 
Pietists  and  Moravians,  the  "perfect  love"  of  the 
Wesleyans,  the  "visions"  of  Swedenborg,  and  the  zeal 
of  the  numerous  present-day  religious  bodies  profess- 
ing a  higher  knowledge,  all  bear  testimony  to  the 
continuance  of  the  mystical  temper  in  great  force 
among  Protestants.  It  is  reflected  in  not  a  few  of 
the  hymns  in  popular  use  among  the  Protestant 
churches.     The  neo-Platonic  character  of  two  familiar 


Mysticism  75 

modern  hymns  may  be  exhibited  by  quoting  a  stanza 
from  each: 

Eternal  Light!  eternal  Light! 

How  pure  the  soul  must  be, 
When,  placed  within  thy  searching  sight, 
It  shrinks  not,  but  with  calm  delight 

Can  live  and  look  on  thee! 

And 

Breathe  on  me,  breath  of  God! 

Until  my  heart  is  pure, 
Until  with  thee  I  will  one  will 

To  do  or  to  endure. 

2.    OUTSTANDING    CHARACTERISTICS    OF    CHRISTIAN 
MYSTICISM 

a)  The  spirit  of  Christian  mysticism  is  both  critical 
and  speculative.  It  is  critical  because  it  aims  at  sim- 
plicity and  directness  in  religion.  Feeling  that  in  the 
Christian  faith  religion  comes  to  perfection,  it  finds  that 
perfection  in  the  immediacy  of  the  soul's  relation  to  God. 
The  Christian  soul  finds  itself  in  God  and  God  in  itself. 
God  is  nearer  than  all  else  to  the  soul,  the  life  of  its  life, 
and  hence  there  can  be  no  need  of  mediation  between  the 
soul  and  God.  Whatever  may  come  between  them  brings 
darkness  and  not  light.  All  that  lies  beyond  this  inward 
union  is  secondary,  and  if  it  tend  to  obscure  or  interfere 
with  the  soul's  consciousness  of  its  God  it  is  of  no  account 
or  worse  than  useless.  Hence  the  indifference  which 
thoroughgoing  Christian  mystics  commonly  feel  toward 
the  mere  externals  of  religion.  Hence  the  attempt  to  pen- 
etrate through  the  traditions,  the  customs,  the  ceremonies, 
the  forms  of  organization,  and  all  the  other  drapery  of 
historical  Christianity  and  to  discover  the  eternal  essence 


76  What  Is  Christianity? 

that  lies  concealed  behind  it  all  It  seeks  to  realize  here 
on  earth  the  religious  experience  which  men  hope  for  in 
heaven.  But  in  discovering  the  essence  of  Christianity 
it  becomes  necessarily  speculative.  For  if  it  is  in  Jesus 
Christ  that  men  find  their  final  salvation,  then  it  is  in 
him  that  this  immediacy  with  God  is  found.  It  then 
becomes  impossible  to  escape  the  task  of  relating  this 
experience  Christward  with  the  experience  Godward  in 
such  a  way  that  the  two  become  one.  This  calls  for  the 
profoundest  religious  speculation  and  creates  the  very 
dogmas  whose  interpolation  into  the  relation  between 
the  soul  and  God  obscures  the  immediacy  of  the  divine 
enlightenment.  Yet  against  these  very  dogmas  mys- 
ticism voices  a  protest. 

b)  The  spirit  of  Christian  mysticism  is  both  individ- 
ualistic and  universalistic.  The  mystic  is  interested  in 
the  movements  of  his  own  soul.  The  ancient  Christian 
mystics  were  the  fathers  of  the  modern  psychology  of 
religion.  They  it  was  who  taught  us  to  analyze  and 
estimate  the  worth  of  our  inner  experiences  of  conflict, 
defeat,  and  victory  and  to  perceive  in  those  battlefields 
hidden  from  the  view  of  the  mere  outsider  the  greatest 
tragedies  and  triumphs  in  the  story  of  all  the  worlds.  It 
was  they  who  discovered  in  the  inner  recesses  of  man's 
soul  the  highest  working  of  those  mighty  forces  that 
constitute  the  universe.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  a  Bernard 
of  Clairvaux  should  traverse  the  passes  of  the  Alps  sur- 
rounded by  scenes  of  the  most  marvelous  beauty  and 
grandeur  without  uttering  a  single  word  that  would  indi- 
cate that  these  things  made  any  lasting  impression  on  his 
mind  ?     For  his  eye  was  turned  inward  to  contemplate 


Mysticism  TJ 

those  vaster  scenes,  of  which  the  grandest  natural 
scenery  could  be  only  a  sensuous  reflection,  in  which  he 
stood  nearer  to  the  ultimate  Sublime  and  Beautiful  in 
the  presence  of  which  all  the  things  of  sense  shrank  away 
abashed. 

In  the  life  of  the  soul  the  Christian  mystic  sees  the 
final  word  of  the  Christian  revelation.  Without  it  the 
Christian  Scriptures  would  be  only  childish  prattle.  In 
the  living  soul  he  has  found  the  pearl  of  great  price.  The 
gospel  stories  of  the  Lost  Sheep,  the  Lost  Coin,  and  the 
Lost  Son  are  parables  of  the  wanderings  of  the  soul  from 
its  true  self  and  its  coming  to  itself  again.  The  mystic's 
Christ  is  not  a  historic  human  individual,  but  the 
Indwelling  One.  For  him  the  essence  of  the  distinctive 
Christian  revelation  is  found  to  be,  "  Christ  in  me. "  For 
him  the  essence  of  the  Christian  redemption  is  expressed 
in  the  words,  "I  have  been  crucified  with  Christ;  and  it 
is  no  longer  I  that  live,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  For 
him  the  essence  of  all  Christian  activity  is  expressed  in 
the  consciousness,  "Not  I,  but  the  grace  of  Christ  which 
was  with  me."  In  other  words,  he  is  persuaded  that  in 
examining  his  own  spirit-life  he  is  using  a  plumb  line  that 
reaches  down  to  the  depths  of  Christ,  of  God. 

Here  we  are  reminded  that  the  ultimate  secret  of  the 
mystic's  interest  in  the  individual  soul  lies  in  his  hope  of 
finding  there  a  Something  More  than  himself,  the  Soul 
of  all  souls,  in  which  or  in  whom  all  souls  are  first  lost  to 
themselves  and  afterward  find  themselves  again.  What 
better  lot,  he  asks,  can  fall  to  a  man  than  that  he  should 
lose  his  own  narrow,  empirical  self  in  the  Infinite  Self  ? 
Thus  it  is  true  that  he  who  loses  his  soul  in  this  world 


78  What  Is  Christianity? 

shall  keep  it  to  life  eternal.  Why  should  anyone  wish 
to  preserve  to  himself  a  self-existence  which  is  after  all 
only  a  selfish  existence?  The  worth  of  the  individual 
lies,  not  in  the  fact  that  he  is  an  individual,  but  in  the 
truth  that  when  he  truly  finds  himself  the  Universal  is 
all  the  Self  he  desires. 

c)  Christian  mysticism  seeks  the  attainment  of  pure 
spirituality,  but  is  inseparably  united  with  materiality. 
In  common  with  all  other  mystics,  the  Christian  mystic 
is  powerfully  conscious  of  the  opposition  between  the 
spirit  and  the  flesh  in  man  and  between  spirituality 
and  materiality  in  the  universe  that  reflects  the  soul 
of  man.  He  seeks  the  transformation  of  his  whole 
being  into  spiritual  existence  and  the  transmutation 
of  the  whole  of  existence  into  a  spiritual  world.  The 
Christian  mystic's  heaven  is  a  condition  of  existence  that 
may  be  defined  as  "  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect." 
It  will  be  a  condition  of  pure  spiritual  love.  If  he  loves 
others,  if  he  loves  himself,  it  is  for  the  sake  of  the  love  of 
God,  that  is,  for  a  purely  spiritual  love,  a  love  which  is 
unconnected  with  physical  relations.  The  holy  city  for 
which  he  looks  is  a  heavenly  city,  which  is  lighted  and 
filled  with  God.  He  sings  of  that  city  alone  and  is 
interested  in  no  other.  He  pines  for  that  city  and  is 
willing  to  forego  all  earthly  joys  and  comforts  for  its  dear 
sake.  How  vain  and  worthless  are  all  earthly  cities  and 
their  wealth!  Bernard's  great  hymn,  "Hora  Novissima," 
done  into  English  by  J.  M.  Neale  under  the  title,  "The 
Celestial  Country,"  is  a  sustained,  unwearied  (however 
wearying  to  modern  people)  recital  of  the  glories  of 
that  spiritual  state  in  contrast  with  the  deep  pessimism 
it  exhibits  in  regard  to  this  world.     The  verse  most 


Mysticism  79 

familiar  to  Protestants  may  be  inserted  here  to  represent 
the  mystical  contemplation  of  heaven: 
Jerusalem  the  golden, 

With  milk  and  honey  blest, 
Beneath  thy  contemplation 

Sink  heart  and  voice  oppressed; 
I  know  not,  O,  I  know  not, 

What  social  joys  are  there; 
What  radiancy  of  glory! 

What  light  beyond  compare! 

As  we  follow  the  course  of  the  poet's  contemplation  we 
are  impressed  with  his  failure  to  shake  off  the  pressure 
of  materiality.  For  almost  the  whole  of  his  imagery  is 
drawn  from  scenes  of  natural,  physical  life  and  material 
prosperity.  It  is  the  same  with  those  women  mystics 
of  the  Middle  Ages  who  believed  that  they  had  cast  off  all 
other  love  for  the  sake  of  the  love  of  Christ,  the  Bride- 
groom of  their  souls.  The  saints  whom  they  picture  to 
themselves  in  glory  are  bedecked  in  the  very  millinery 
whose  earthly  counterpart  they  had  presumably  driven 
from  their  hearts.  The  simple  truth  of  the  matter  is  that 
Christian  mysticism  has  never  succeeded  in  shaking  off 
the  wholesome  Christian  appreciation  of  the  worth  of 
material  reality.  If  mysticism  only  recognizes  spiritual 
good,  it  is,  nevertheless,  unable  to  represent  it  except  in 
terms  of  material  good. 

3.   THE  METHOD   OF  CHRISTIAN  MYSTICISM 

It  would  seem  at  first  that  it  must  be  quite  out  of 
place  to  speak  of  a  method  of  mysticism.  For  the  mys- 
tical experience,  being  ineffable,  cannot  be  brought  under 
a  consistent  mode  of  expression;  since  it  bears  its  author- 
ity within  itself  it  cannot  be  made  to  rest  upon  a  law  of 


80  What  Is  Christianity? 

action  or  occurrence;  since  it  wells  up  from  the  secret 
depths  of  the  subliminal  self  or  comes  down  from  a  higher 
self  no  attempt  to  secure  it  by  human  efforts  can  hope 
for  steady  success.  As  soon  as  it  is  brought  under  an 
order  of  things  it  loses  its  distinctive  excellence.  Never- 
theless, mystics  have  been  insistent  that  the  experience 
is  obtainable  and  have  sought  carefully  to  offer  guidance 
to  the  seeking  soul.  This  is  inevitable  as  soon  as  it  is 
admitted  that  the  experience  is  desirable  and  satisfying. 
There  is  a  method  in  mysticism.  The  method  of  Chris- 
tian mysticism  does  not  differ  from  the  method  of  mys- 
ticism in  general  except  in  so  far  as  the  virtues  cherished 
in  Christianity  take  on  a  character  of  their  own  and  in  so 
far  as  the  object  of  Christian  adoration  is  distinctive. 

First  of  all,  the  would-be  participant  in  the  mystical 
experience  must  submit  to  a  discipline  of  the  will.  This 
is  twofold,  having  a  negative  side  and  a  positive  side. 
On  the  negative  side  there  must  be  a  withdrawal  of  the 
will  from  aims  that  divert  it  from  obtaining  unity  with 
the  ultimate  Reality;  there  must  be  a  withdrawal  of  the 
attention  of  the  intellect  from  the  mere  becoming  of 
things  in  order  to  the  attainment  of  the  vision  of  God; 
there  must  be  an  alienation  of  the  emotions  from  things 
that  belong  to  the  artificial  world  of  common  life.  In 
other  words,  the  true  mystic  must  be  an  ascetic.  As 
Peter  Damiani  said,  "Whoever  would  reach  the  summit 
of  perfection  should  keep  within  the  cloister  of  his  seclu- 
sion, cherish  spiritual  leisure,  and  shudder  at  traversing 
the  world,  as  if  he  were  about  to  plunge  into  a  sea  of 
blood.  For  the  world  is  so  filthy  with  vices  that  any 
holy  mind  is  befouled  even  by  thinking  about  it."  This 
is  the  extreme  Catholic  view  of  the  matter.     The  differ- 


Mysticism  81 

ence  between  the  Catholic  mystic  and  the  Protestant 
mystic  is,  at  this  point,  one  of  degree.  Evelyn  Under- 
hill  says:  "As  the  purified  sense,  cleansed  of  prejudice 
and  self-interest,  can  give  us  fleeting  communications 
from  the  actual  broken-up  world  of  duration  at  our 
gates:  so  the  purified  and  educated  will  can  wholly  with- 
draw the  self's  attention  from  its  usual  concentration  on 
small  useful  aspects  of  the  time- world,  refuse  to  react  to 
its  perpetually  incoming  messages,  retreat  to  the  unity 
of  its  spirit,  and  there  make  itself  ready  for  messages  from 
another  plane."     This  also  is  asceticism. 

The  positive  side  of  the  discipline  is  the  more  impor- 
tant. The  Nay  is  only  a  passageway  to  the  Yea.  After 
the  will,  by  withdrawal,  renunciation,  and  mortification, 
has  received  its  purgation,  there  begins  its  concentration 
upon  the  sole  end  of  its  exercise.  "Tension,  ardor,  are 
of  its  essence;  it  demands  the  perpetual  exercise  of  indus- 
try and  courage."  Beginning  with  meditation,  the  soul 
presses  upward  through  successive  stages  of  contempla- 
tion till  at  last  it  beholds  with  unblenched  eye  the  Light 
Eternal.  In  this  "naked  contemplation"  the  poem  of 
existence  is  read  at  last.  The  heart  dwells  in  the  eternal 
Love,  selfhood  is  lost  in  the  divine  Quiet,  and  God  is  All 
in  all.  The  strenuousness  of  the  demands  of  mysticism 
is  excelled  by  no  type  of  religion  or  morality. 

In  Christian  mysticism  Jesus  frequently  becomes  the 
center  of  the  mystical  striving.  He  is  the  soul's  Bride- 
groom and  the  highest  bliss  is  found  in  the  ecstatic  union 
with  him.  His  cross,  particularly,  becomes  the  focal 
point  of  the  contemplation  of  his  glory  until  the  worshiper 
becomes  emotionally  one  with  him,  until  "with  him  we 
will  one  will  to  do  or  to  endure"  and  die  to  self  in  him. 


82  What  Is  Christianity? 

Secondly,  the  discipline  of  the  will  is  supported  by  a 
method  of  interpretation.  It  may  be  called  symbolism. 
It  has  been  shown  that  for  mysticism  the  world  of  sense- 
perception  is  not  the  truly  real  world.  Its  value,  how- 
ever, is  not  merely  negative.  It  has  the  value  of  the 
stamp  on  the  gold  coin.  It  tells  of  the  Reality,  or 
that  which  is  beyond  itself.  It  symbolizes  the  truth 
and  only  so  far  has  it  truth.  The  universe  is  a  song, 
a  psalm.  The  world  of  perception  is  the  musical  scale. 
It  is  not  enough  to  know  the  notes.  We  most  catch 
the  music  by  the  inner  ear.  The  notation  mediates 
it  to  us.  The  Maker  of  the  world  is  an  Artist. 
Science  is  worthful  only  as  it  leads  to  the  cultivation 
of  the  Art  divine. 

A  special  application  of  this. theory  occurs  in  the 
mystical  use  of  the  Christian  Scriptures.  Allegorism 
is  the  true  method  of  their  interpretation.  Behind  the 
grammatical  sense  of  the  Scriptures  lies  the  hidden  sense. 
Consequently,  questions  of  literary  criticism  or  historical 
fact  have  a  very  subordinate  interest,  if  any  interest 
whatsoever.  Often  the  mystical  interpretation  has  been 
carried  to  the  greatest  extravagance.  The  Song  of 
Solomon  is  one  of  the  favorite  hunting-grounds  of 
allegorical  interpreters.  We  are  all  familiar  with  the 
play  of  fancy  in  the  use  of  apocalyptical  works  for  pur- 
poses of  "spiritual  edification."  Especially  significant 
is  the  attitude  assumed  toward  the  historical  Jesus — the 
outer  events  of  his  life,  or  his  actual  teachings,  matter 
little.  The  heavenly  Christ  alone  concerns  the  mystic. 
With  this  Christ  he  holds  communion.  This  Christ 
reveals  himself  still  to  believers,  and  this  Christ  alone  can 
save — he  is  God. 


Mysticism  83 

Thirdly,  mystical  piety  is  nourished  by  a  method  of 
emotional  cultivation.  The  search  for  symbols  mediat- 
ing the  longed-for  experience  issues  in  the  selection  or 
creation  of  them.  Mysticism  always  develops  a  ritual. 
Mystics  are  the  most  at  home  in  the  ritualistic  churches. 
For  the  attempt  to  sustain  the  high  elevation  of  soul 
which  is  called  union  with  God  is  bound  to  slacken  and 
fall  back  unless  means  be  taken  to  revive  the  sagging  ex- 
perience as  frequently  as  may  be.  Otherwise  indifference 
or  despair  must  follow.  Hence  the  ritual,  hence  the 
sacraments,  hence  the  elaborate  system  of  symbols  which 
have  gradually  grown  up  in  the  Catholic  church.  Mys- 
ticism frequently  eventuates  in  what  seemed  at  first  its 
opposite — Catholicism. 

4.   THE  STRENGTH  AND  THE  WEAKNESS  OF  MYSTICISM 
IN  CHRISTIANITY 

This  can  be  discerned  by  recalling  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  phenomena  of  mysticism  have  been 
most  in  evidence.  Mysticism  has  been  frequently  the 
resort  of  the  physically  weak  and  oppressed.  When 
governments  have  become  despotic  and  have  crushed 
weaker  states  to  the  ground  or  have  deprived  their  sub- 
jects of  their  liberties;  when  worldly  power  has  been  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  rich  and  the  common  people  have 
been  subjected  to  impoverishment  and  cruelty,  then  the 
hopelessness  of  their  material  condition  has  turned  the 
minds  of  men  to  the  better  hope  of  a  higher  enrichment 
by  participation  in  the  realities  of  a  spiritual  world  over 
which  material  forces  have  no  control  and  for  the  posses- 
sion of  which  a  man  is  not  dependent  on  the  suffrages  of 
his  fellows.     Here  mysticism  appears  as  an  affirmation 


84  What  Is  Christianity  ? 

of  the  reality  and  worth  of  the  spiritual  over  against  the 
vanity  of  the  material,  and,  at  the  same  time,  as  a  vindi- 
cation of  the  indefeasible  prerogative  of  the  individual 
human  spirit.  Thus  it  was  when  the  power  of  ancient 
Rome  threatened  the  liberties  and  life  of  the  weaker 
peoples.  The  mysticism  of  ancient  Catholicism  is  in 
part  an  answer  to  the  claims  of  the  Empire. 

Mysticism  has  been  not  infrequently  the  support  of 
dissenters  against  ecclesiastical  despotism.  In  times 
of  organized  religious  aggrandizement,  when  priestly 
authorities,  with  apparent  success,  have  sought  to 
usurp  the  control  of  spiritual  functions;  when  a  stately 
or  attractive  ritual  has  emerged  as  a  means  of  satisfying 
spiritual  wants;  when,  in  consequence,  formalism  and 
pomp  have  been  substituted  for  the  gentle  graces  of  true 
religion;  and  when  the  pride  of  sacerdotalism  has  been 
flanked  by  dependence,  ignorance,  and  grossness  in  the 
masses,  then  mysticism  has  arisen  as  a  mighty  reaction. 
It  has  called  men  back  to  the  simplicity  of  the  truly 
spiritual  life,  its  freedom  from  external  control,  its  inde- 
pendence of  material  support,  its  supremacy  over  all 
outer  authority,  its  immediacy  of  access  to  the  individual 
man.  Religion  is  affirmed  to  be  an  inward  life  and  not 
a  system  of  worship  or  an  order  of  society.  Thus  it  was 
when  the  mediaeval  dissenters  rose  in  revolt  against  the 
claims  of  the  mighty  mediaeval  Catholic  church. 

Mysticism,  again,  has  sprung  up  in  protest  against 
the  pretensions  of  intellectual  despotism  in  the  life  of 
religion.  When  the  truth  of  religious  faith  has  been 
subjected  to  intellectual  analysis  or  theoretical  specula- 
tion ;  when  the  possession  of  this  faith  has  been  identified 
with  acquiescence  in  the  truth  of  formal  propositions  or 


Mysticism  85 

dogmatical  declarations;  when  an  intellectual  sacer- 
dotalism, as  aggressive  and  despotic  as  ecclesiastical 
or  political  dignitaries  ever  were,  subjects  the  hearts  of 
the  common  people  to  the  authority  of  the  professional 
thinker  and  the  simple  faith  of  the  untrained  smolders 
low,  loses  confidence  and  initiative;  and  when  unbelief, 
fostered  by  undue  regard  for  the  power  of  logic,  becomes 
proud  and  boastful,  then  mysticism  has  arisen  to  do 
battle  on  behalf  of  the  spiritual  privileges  of  the  unintel- 
ligent and  untrained,  with  the  affirmation  that  the  heart 
hath  reasons  that  Reason  knoweth  not,  that  the  religious 
life  is  irreducible  to  the  terms  of  mere  thought,  and  that 
the  believer  is  greater  than  the  thinker.  Thus  it  was 
with  the  Anabaptists  of  the  Reformation,  with  the 
Quakers  of  the  later  Reformation  days,  with  the  Pietists 
of  Germany,  and  with  the  revivalism  of  Wesley  and 
Whitefield. 

The  strength  of  mysticism  lies  in  its  originality,  its 
simplicity,  its  power  of  defense,  its  conservation  of  funda- 
mental realities.  Its  power  of  resistance  against  oppres- 
sion is  unconquerable.  It  protects  the  liberties  of  the 
weak.  It  vindicates  the  divinity  of  the  human  spirit  and 
its  supremacy  over  material  being. 

But  it  has  exhibited  the  faults  that  accompany  such 
virtues.  Strong  in  defense,  it  has  not  had  signal  success 
as  a  progressive  Christian  propaganda.  Deeply  rooted 
in  the  self-consciousness  of  the  individual,  it  has  not 
shown  a  capacity  for  social  construction  or  reconstruc- 
tion. Mysticism  cannot  be  identified  with  a  continuous 
historical  communion  of  faith.  Its  love  of  the  unseen  and 
ineffable  has  left  little  room  for  a  bold  quest  of  nature's 
secret  by  scientific  methods,  and  it  has  manifested  a 


86  What  Is  Christianity? 

constant  tendency  to  retire  from  the  vast  arenas  of  life 
where  men  do  battle  with  the  weapons  of  material 
nature  or  struggle  to  build  up  political  structures  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  acquisitions  of  human  labor  in  the 
past.  At  times  tremendously  brave,  on  the  whole  it  is 
timid  in  regard  to  public  issues  and  is  prone  to  leave 
these  to  the  care  of  the  "worldling."  Finally,  unable 
after  all  to  subsist  long  on  pure  contemplation,  or,  with 
aristocratic  spirit,  despairing  of  the  spirituality  of  the 
masses,  it  resorts  too  frequently  to  those  very  externals 
in  worship  that  it  has  sought  to  discard.  Mysticism  is 
not  Christianity,  but  only  a  factor  in  the  making  of  it. 


CHAPTER  IV 
PROTESTANTISM 

In  the  year  of  grace  1529,  at  a  meeting  of  the  motley 
and  cumbersome  collection  of  secular  and  ecclesiastical 
potentates  that  constituted  the  Diet  of  the  mediaeval 
German  Empire,  a  minority  of  these  rulers  offered  a 
joint  protest  to  the  emperor  and  the  majority  against 
a  contemplated  attack  upon  their  rights.  So  far  as  con- 
cerned the  deepest  interests  of  men  in  general,  the  occa- 
sion was  comparatively  trivial,  for  it  mattered  little  to 
the  world  then,  as  it  does  now,  if  some  ecclesiast  or  prince- 
ling were  to  lose  his  special  privileges.  The  mightiest 
influences  in  human  affairs  derive  but  little  of  their  power 
from  the  will  of  officials  or  hereditary  rulers.  Notwith- 
standing, the  occurrence  was  very  significant  inasmuch 
as  the  empire  enjoyed  a  great  traditional  prestige  even 
in  those  later  days  of  its  decadent  power,  and  because 
this  protest  announced  to  all  the  peoples  within  the 
empire,  and  to  all  the  other  European  nations  that  still 
professed  a  nominal  connection  with  it,  that  a  new 
political  combination  had  arisen  in  support  of  a  religious 
principle  or  profession.     It  was  a  sign  of  the  times. 

It  may  be  that  few  of  these  men  were  deeply  or  intel- 
ligently in  sympathy  with  religion  for  its  own  sake  or 
cared  very  much  for  the  liberties  of  the  multitudes  whose 
destinies  were  to  be  affected  by  their  act.  It  may  be  that 
their  act  was  prompted  by  selfish  political  considerations, 
but  their  protest  was  in  support  of  a  religious  faith,  and 

87 


88  What  Is  Christianity? 

it  helped  to  force  upon  the  attention  of  Europe  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  challenge  which  the  brave  monk,  Martin 
Luther,  had  hurled  into  the  face  of  the  Roman  papacy 
a  few  years  before.  It  was  the  act  of  these  protesters 
that  gave  to  all  who  associated  themselves  thereafter 
with  the  opposition  to  Roman  Catholicism  the  name  they 
were  to  bear  for  all  time  to  come — Protestants.  As  time 
passed,  great  companies  of  men  rose  up  in  many  lands 
to  join  in  further  protests — no  longer  mainly  against  the 
claims  of  the  heads  of  a  great  political  system  with  its 
heritage  of  authority  based  upon  its  doings  in  the  past, 
but  against  a  greater  and  more  dreaded  system  with  its 
claims  to  a  higher  authority — the  Roman  Catholic 
church.  The  whole  revolutionary  movement  that  swept 
so  swiftly  over  a  large  portion  of  Europe  may  be  properly 
denoted  by  the  term  Protestantism.  Our  attention  will 
be  mostly  confined  to  the  religious  side  of  it. 

At  the  outset  of  this  study  it  is  to  be  granted  that 
Protestantism  cannot  be  understood  apart  from  its 
relation  to  the  Catholicism  against  which  it  projected 
itself.  The  name  is  not  on  that  account,  however,  sig- 
nificant of  a  merely  negative  attitude.  Catholic  con- 
troversialists have  continued  to  this  day  to  reiterate  this 
old  charge  against  it.  In  those  early  days  of  Protestant 
history,  when  the  bitter  struggles  in  defense  of  the  new 
profession  naturally  called  forth  a  determined  polemic 
against  Catholicism,  there  was  some  plausibility  in  the 
accusation;  but  when  the  story  of  the  rise  and  progress 
of  Protestantism  is  told,  when  its  powerful  creations  in 
many  spheres  of  life  are  exhibited  to  the  student,  the 
absurdity  of  the  view  that  Protestantism  is  simply  a 
negation  of  Catholicism  becomes  evident.     It  is  one  of 


Protestantism  89 

the    greatest   positive   constructive   forces    that   have 
appeared  in  human  life. 

It  is  true  that  the  outburst  of  this  new  power  brought 
about  for  a  time  a  degree  of  turmoil  and  confusion  that 
was  fairly  appalling  to  lovers  of  peace  and  quiet.  To 
such  people  it  must  have  seemed  at  times  that  Protes- 
tantism was  just  destruction  let  loose.  For  accepted 
maxims  of  life  were  contradicted,  society  in  many  places 
was  disintegrated,  economic  conditions  were  turned  up- 
side down,  revolutions  were  started,  wars  broke  out  in 
many  lands,  blood  was  shed  like  water,  thrones  toppled, 
and  the  great  church  was  rent  in  pieces.  "Prophets" 
at  times  went  hither  and  thither  proclaiming  that  the 
end  of  the  world  was  at  hand,  and  attempts  were  actually 
made  to  set  up  a  visible  kingdom  of  Christ  on  the  earth. 
The  storm  began  to  calm  down  after  a  while.  From  the 
time  that  Calvin's  theocracy  was  firmly  established  at 
Geneva  till  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and  the 
treaty  of  Westphalia  were  signed  Protestantism  was 
progressively  organizing  itself  in  stable  forms  of  political 
and  ecclesiastical  government  in  close  affiliation  with 
each  other,  and  the  Protestant  nations  displayed  a  solid- 
ity and  vigor  that  gave  them  promise  of  the  domination 
of  the  world.  Their  grip  has  slackened  at  times,  but  has 
never  been  let  go.  Protestantism  has  become  an  abiding 
force  in  the  life  of  men. 

It  is  not  strange  that  the  men  who  became  leaders 
and  spokesmen  of  the  Reformation  only  half  understood 
the  real  character  of  the  powerful  undercurrent  of  spirit- 
ual life  that  brought  them  to  the  surface.  It  was  natural 
that  the  inner  conservatism  of  many  of  these  reasserted 
tself  powerfully  against  the  views  of  radicals.     It  was 


go  What  Is  Christianity? 

natural  that  they  should  seek  to  keep  the  new  spirit  under 
restraint  by  bringing  it  under  the  authority  of  existing 
conditions,  partly  remodeled,  and  by  binding  it  to  the 
terms  of  doctrine  established  by  law.  Looking  back 
from  the  distance  of  the  present,  we  can  recognize  the 
influence  of  several  conservative  interests  upon  the  new 
movement.  First  of  all,  there  was  the  Catholic  church 
itself  with  its  succession  of  priests,  its  sacraments,  its 
methods  of  government,  and  its  insistence  on  unity. 
Secondly,  there  were  the  political  states  which  had  arisen 
in  Europe  as  feudalism  began  to  fail.  These  strong 
governments  attracted  to  them  the  firm  allegiance  of 
their  subjects,  so  much  so  that  even  the  church  had  to 
take  the  second  place  in  the  affections  of  many.  Thirdly, 
there  was  the  reverence  for  the  past  and  the  hesitation 
to  part  with  its  treasures  of  custom  and  tradition. 
Fourthly,  there  was  the  instinct  for  order  with  which 
every  new  movement  must  reckon.  The  Protestant 
leaders  found  it  practically  necessary  to  adjust  them- 
selves to  these  conditions.  The  general  outcome  was  a 
partial  compromise.  There  was  a  checking  of  the  reli- 
gious insurrection  on  the  one  hand  and  an  alteration  of 
the  terms  and  forms  of  the  old  faith  in  a  modern  direc- 
tion on  the  other  hand.  Protestantism  was  not  alto- 
gether a  revolution.  In  the  life  of  Christendom  it  was 
truly  a  reformation  rather  than  a  revolution. 

But  was  the  Protestantism  that  came  to  expression 
in  the  institutions  that  bear  its  name  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries  truly  and  fundamentally  religious  ? 
Was  it  not  rather  a  watering  down  of  religion,  a  pruning 
of  the  true  Christianity  in  order  to  adjust  it  to  the 
demands  of  the  rational  intelligence  and  of  the  secular 


Protestantism  91 

life  and  its  institutions  ?     I  am  firmly  convinced  that  it 
was  the  former.     The  very  fact  that  the  men  who  have 
been  designated  by  the  popular  mind  as  its  greatest 
representatives  were  the  religious  teachers  and  reformers 
and  the  fact  that  the  Protestant  states  that  arose  invari- 
ably issued  a  confession  of  faith  uphold  this  view.     The 
history  of  the  creation  of  Protestantism  and  of  the  devel- 
opment of  its  life  proves  it.     Protestantism  is  a  type  of 
religious  faith.     It  was  really  in  its  beginnings  a  religious 
revival.     That  the  religious  leaders  should  be  the  men  to 
speak  the  word  that  released  upon  the  world  the  forces 
that  had  been  held  in  leash  by  the  Catholic  church  for  a 
long  time  was  natural,  for  it  was  through  the  awakened 
religious  consciousness  of  the  age  that  men  became  aware 
of  the  depth  of  the  changes  that  had  been  working  out 
in  other  spheres  of  life.     It  was  the  Christian  messages 
of  the  leaders  that  made  the  retention  of  so  many  of  the 
traditional  beliefs  and  practices  impossible.     It  was  the 
Christian  verities  that  men  felt  called  upon  to  vindicate 
when  they  strove  for  the  larger  liberty  that  was  coming 
to  them.     The  Protestants  believed  themselves  to  be, 
in  contrast  with  Catholics,  the  true  Christians.     Prot- 
estantism is  a  specific  interpretation  of  Christianity. 

I.   HISTORICAL  SOURCES   OF  PROTESTANTISM 

Protestantism  was  fed  by  far-off  fountains  that  sprang 
up  in  those  mountain  recesses  of  human  life  where  lowly 
people,  mostly  unobserved  by  statesmen  or  high  ecclesi- 
astics, cultivated  a  simpler  and  purer  faith  than  that 
which  held  the  high  places  of  the  earth.  It  is  now  pretty 
certain  that  a  non-churchly  and  non-sacramental  type 
of  Christian  faith  lived  on  through  the  Dark  Ages  before 


92  What  Is  Christianity? 

mediaeval  Europe  was  born.  Albert  H.  Newman  says: 
"That  there  were  hosts  of  true  believers  during  the 
darkest  ages  of  Christian  history  can  by  no  means  be 
doubted."1  When  the  Clugniac  revival  of  religion  in  the 
Catholic  church  produced  a  purification  and  great  exten- 
sion of  monastic  orders  until  the  monastic  ideal  of  life 
was  accepted  as  the  Catholic  Christian  ideal,  this  lay- 
man's faith  also  grew  and  flourished.  The  story  of  Peter 
de  Bruys,  Henry  of  Lausanne,  and  Arnold  of  Brescia 
proves  that  they  who  maintained  this  other  type  of  faith 
were  by  no  means  ignorant  people.  Their  success  in 
France,  Germany,  the  Netherlands,  and  Italy  created 
alarm  in  the  ranks  of  the  orthodox.  For  they  under- 
mined the  very  foundations  of  the  Catholic  system. 
Infant  baptism,  intercessions  for  the  dead,  sacrifices, 
prayers  to  saints,  consecration  of  holy  days  and  places, 
veneration  of  relics,  and  similar  practices  were  power- 
fully attacked,  and  that  not  merely  on  rational  grounds, 
but  on  the  ground  that  these  things  violate  the  spiritual- 
ity and  moral  purity  of  the  Christian  faith.  Their  ideal 
was  likeness  to  Jesus  in  the  common  relations  of  life. 

The  great  work  of  the  Waldenses  in  translating  the 
Scriptures  into  the  vernacular  and  circulating  them  far 
and  wide  drew  upon  these  devoted  people  the  persecuting 
zeal  of  the  monks.  The  deadly  inquisition  for  heresy 
was  set  to  work.  The  story  of  its  horrors  cannot  be  told 
here,  nor  the  story  of  the  splendid  resistance  of  these 
evangelicals.  Suffice  it  to  say  that,  while  these  people 
were  forced  to  do  most  of  their  work  in  secret,  the  faith 
they  held  could  not  be  extirpated.  When  the  church 
became  more  and  more  entangled  in  politics  and  forgot 

1  History  of  Antipaedobaptism,  p.  28. 


Protestantism  93 

the  needs  of  the  masses,  increasing  multitudes  got  more 
and  more  out  of  hand  and  followed  their  own  inclination. 
The  result  was  the  appearance  of  two  popular  types  of  re- 
ligion side  by  side.  The  one  was  the  priestly,  sacramental 
religion  that  multiplied  its  rites  and  its  intercessors,  that 
went  on  great  pilgrimages  to  holy  shrines,  that  prayed  to 
Mary  and  a  host  of  departed  "saints,"  that  paid  for 
prayers  and  masses,  that  frequented  the  confessional, 
that  purchased  indulgences,  that  trembled  at  the  pros- 
pect of  the  Judgment  Day  and  hell,  and  shrank  in  terror 
from  Christ,  the  awful  Judge.  The  other  was  a  religion 
that  revered  the  words  of  Jesus,  that  tried  to  follow  his 
steps,  that  nurtured  love  and  a  tender  conscience,  whose 
priests  were  the  whole  communion  of  believers,  whose 
invisible  altars  were  on  the  common  highways  of  life — a 
religion  that  sought  the  favor  neither  of  princes  nor  of 
ecclesiastics,  and  that  appeared  at  its  best  in  the  family 
circle  and  not  in  the  monastery  or  the  nunnery.  It  was 
intelligent  because  it  was  particularly  a  Bible-reading 
religion. 

This  was  the  main  religious  source  of  Protestantism. 
But  for  its  antecedent  operations  throughout  Europe, 
Luther  would  probably  never  have  been  heard  from  or 
would  have  spoken  to  deaf  ears.  If  Protestantism  was 
characterized  by  its  emphasis  on  the  authority  of  the 
Bible,  the  explanation  lies  here.  It  was  not  simply 
because  of  the  exigencies  of  controversy.  It  was  not 
simply  because  it  was  found  that  the  weapon  which  the 
Catholic  church  had  forged  for  its  own  defense  when  it 
made  a  canon  of  sacred  Scripture  could  be  used  to  smite 
its  maker  to  the  ground.  But  it  was  mainly  because 
the  spirit  that  inspired  Protestant  religion  and  enabled  it 


94  What  Is  Christianity? 

to  endure  the  storms  of  the  times  had  been,  and  con- 
tinued to  be,  nourished  on  the  Bible. 

Tributary  to  this  powerful  current  was  the  growing 
demand  for  a  morality  that  would  be  personal  and  pure. 
If  it  is  true  that  the  penitential  system  of  the  church 
grew  out  of  the  effort  to  train  the  rude  masses  in  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  obligations  of  the  Christian  life,  it  is  also  true 
that  the  necessity  of  securing  large  funds  for  its  pur- 
poses led  the  church  to  turn  its  penitential  system  into 
a  method  of  evading  direct  responsibility  and  of  bargain- 
ing for  absolution  from  guilt.  The  moral  reforms  which 
the  monks  sought  tended  to  arouse  sluggish  consciences 
for  a  time,  but  the  monastic  institutions  tended  in  a 
double  way  to  aggravate  the  evils  of  the  times.  For 
the  ascetic  ideal  tends  to  the  disparagement  of  the  com- 
mon things  of  life  and,  consequently,  to  the  minimizing 
of  moral  failure  in  common  things.  Also,  the  very  suc- 
cess of  monasticism  and  its  admission  to  a  high  place  in 
the  church's  system  led  to  a  corruption  of  monastic 
morals  to  such  an  extent  that  the  common  people  in 
many  places  looked  upon  the  cassock  of  the  priest  and 
the  begging-bowl  of  the  friar  with  unconcealed  scorn. 
Neither  of  them  could  be  trusted  at  large.  Lay  morality 
was  higher  than  the  morality  of  the  priest  and  the  monk. 

Another  tributary  influence  sprang  from  the  growing 
sense  of  personal  worth.  The  gradual  breakdown  of  the 
older  feudalism  and  the  reduction  of  the  serf  or  villein 
who  was  bound  to  the  soil  to  the  level  of  the  chattels  of 
a  distant  master  were  matched  by  the  development  of 
commerce  in  connection  with  the  crusades,  the  growth 
of  large  cities,  the  increasing  demands  for  artisans  in 
these  cities,  the  substitution  of  the  money-wage  for  pay- 


Protestantism  95 

ment  in  kind,  the  organization  of  workingmen's  guilds 
for  mutual  advantage  and  the  higher  exaltation  of  the 
individual.  The  new  industrial  and  social  conditions 
in  the  cities  aroused  new  hopes  in  the  minds  of  the  coun- 
try peasantry.  Organizations  of  the  peasantry  became 
numerous  and  powerful.  They  began  to  insist  on  the 
recognition  of  rights  hitherto  denied  them.  The  rising 
wave  of  peasant  feeling  was  deeply  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  religion.  Intrepid  leaders  appeared.  The 
Lollards  in  England,  the  Hussites  in  Bohemia,  the  leagues 
of  the  Bundschuh  in  Germany,  were  all  inspired  with  a 
similar  spirit.  The  attempt  of  the  Empire,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  the  Church,  on  the  other  hand,  to  impose 
upon  the  people  an  imperial  system  that  would  reduce 
them  all  to  virtual  serfdom  only  stimulated  the  risings 
the  more.  The  Swiss  peasants  won  a  great  victory  and 
their  independence  from  their  imperial  masters.  The 
hope  of  like  conquests  spread  like  wildfire  throughout 
Central  Europe.  Democracy  raised  its  head.  The 
man,  kept  down  by  ages  of  ignorance  and  oppression, 
was  coming  to  himself. 

There  was  also  the  influence  of  the  growing  national- 
ism of  Europe.  The  national  spirit  was  abroad.  It 
supervened  upon  feudalism.  Both  emperors  and  popes 
feared  it,  for  it  contested  their  claims,  and  ultimately 
thwarted  the  ambitions  of  both.  The  affirmation  of 
national  rights  became  a  rallying-cry  for  those  who  pro- 
tested against  the  pecuniary  exactions  of  the  papacy 
and  the  draining  away  of  the  country's  revenues  to  fill 
the  coffers  of  a  foreign  prelate.  The  English,  the  Scotch, 
the  French,  and  the  Spaniards  were  rapidly  realizing 
their  national  ambitions.     The  Wycliffian  Reformation 


96  What  Is  Christianity? 

in  England  and  the  Hussite  Reformation  in  Bohemia 
owed  their  success  in  no  small  degree  to  their  intimate 
connection  with  the  national  aspirations  in  both  coun- 
tries. National  aspirations  were  rising  among  the  Ger- 
mans, the  Dutch,  the  Italians,  and  elsewhere.  The 
papacy  first  and  the  Empire  next  were  the  chief  outer 
obstacles  to  the  realization  of  these  hopes.  Religion 
took  on  a  national  character.  The  aim  of  bringing  the 
church  in  each  country  under  the  control  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country  gained  backing  steadily.  Protes- 
tantism gave  the  signal  to  make  the  religion  of  the  land 
a  function  of  the  state.  The  state  was  no  longer  to  be 
viewed  as  merely  secular,  no  longer  of  merely  earthly 
origin.  It  was  founded  by  heaven  and  its  rights  were 
divine.     The  natural  had  become  the  holy. 

A  single  word  only  need  be  said  about  the  Renais- 
sance. The  revival  of  learning  affected  directly  at  first 
only  the  intellectuals,  but  its  influence  was  bound  to 
permeate  whole  communities  in  course  of  time.  It 
liberated  the  mind  from  bondage  to  authority  in  the 
realm  of  knowledge  and  thereby  gave  support  to  the 
growing  religious  freedom.  It  revived  the  interest  in 
the  distant  past  and  stimulated  a  search  for  the  true 
Christian  beginnings.  It  opened  the  way  to  new  inter- 
pretations of  the  Christian  Scriptures.  It  reaffirmed 
the  competency  of  the  human  reason  to  discover  truth 
in  any  realm.  It  brought  the  pretensions  of  many  of  the 
accredited  church  leaders  into  contempt  by  exposing 
their  ignorance.  It  strengthened  confidence  in  the 
worth  of  the  natural  as  against  a  narrow  supranatural- 
ism.  It  gave  new  strength  to  the  scientific  impulse  and 
the  desire  for  discovery  and  invention  in  all  realms  of 


Protestantism  97 

knowledge.     It  threw  broadcast  the  invitation  to  come 
to  nature  and  learn  her  secret  from  herself. 

Protestantism  was  an  outcome  of  the  union  of  these 
forces  and  the  penetration  of  them  all  by  the  spirit  of 
religious  revival.  The  manner  in  which  they  were  com- 
bined varied  greatly  in  different  countries  and  in  different 
groups  in  the  same  countries,  but  it  is  not  difficult  to 
discover  one  prevailing  trend  amid  their  differences. 
This,  I  trust,  will  become  manifest  by  an  analysis  of 
Protestantism  from  various  points  of  view. 

2.   THE  PROTESTANT  RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT 

A  classic  expression  of  the  inner  religious  life  of  Prot- 
estantism is  found  in  the  answer  to  the  first  question  in 
the  Heidelberg  Catechism:  "What  is  thy  only  comfort 
in  life  and  in  death  ? ' '    Answer : 

That  I,  with  body  and  soul,  both  in  life  and  in  death,  am  not 
my  own,  but  belong  to  my  faithful  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  who  with 
his  precious  blood  has  fully  satisfied  for  all  my  sins,  and  redeemed 
me  from  all  the  power  of  the  devil;  and  so  preserves  me  that  with- 
out the  will  of  my  Father  in  heaven  not  a  hair  can  fall  from  my 
head;  yea,  all  things  must  work  together  for  my  salvation.  Where- 
fore, by  his  Holy  Spirit,  he  also  assures  me  of  eternal  life,  and 
makes  me  heartily  willing  and  ready  henceforth  to  live  unto  him. 

In  this  popular  statement  the  three  great  mountain 
peaks  of  the  Protestant  religious  consciousness  stand  out 
clearly:  loyalty  to  a  personal  God,  confidence  in  the  orderly 
course  of  the  universe,  the  sense  of  inner  worth.  The  dif- 
ferent Protestant  communions  vary  in  the  intelligence 
and  firmness  with  which  they  hold  to  these  fundamentals 
and  in  the  emphasis  they  place  upon  them,  respectively, 
but  these  convictions  are  characteristic  of  them  all. 


98  What  Is  Christianity? 

First:  The  religion  of  the  Protestant  consists  primarily 
in  the  consciousness  of  the  immediate  personal  relation  with 
God.    In  the  answer  to  the  first  question  of  the  West- 
minster Shorter  Catechism  it  is  stated  theologically: 
"What  is  the  chief  end  of  man?"     Answer:    "Man's 
chief  end  is  to  glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  him  forever." 
Here  there  is  no  blind  or  confused  groping  after  an 
unknowable  essence  of  deity  or  divinity,  no  vague  sur- 
mise of  the  presence  of  an  ineffable  Somewhat,  of  a 
Silence  or  Abyss  beyond  all  the  range  of  human  intel- 
ligence, but  the  affirmation  of  a  direct  contact  with  a 
personality  as  real  and  as  definite  in  his  existence  as  we 
are.    Protestant  theology  may  not  have  lived  up  to  this 
standard  always,  but  this  is  the  Protestant  faith.     There 
can  be  no  toleration  of  an  effort  to  interpose  anything 
between  God  and  the  soul,  for  this  would  be  an  insult 
to  the  divine  prerogative  and  an  injury  to  the  human 
spirit.     God  reveals  himself  to  man  and  confers  good 
gifts  upon  him  according  to  his  own  will.     Man  prays 
to  God  directly  and  obeys  or  disobeys  on  his  own  behalf. 
Hence   the  Protestant  love  for  simplicity  in  worship. 
Hence  the  sternness  with  which  the  Protestants  repudi- 
ated the  mediatorial  system  of  the  Catholic  church- 
its  spurious  sacraments,   its  prescribed  devotions,   its 
priestly   intercessions   and   absolutions,   its   saints,   its 
holy  seasons  of  fasts  and  feasts,  and  its  legalistic  regula- 
tions— not  merely  because  they  were  absurd  and  vain, 
but  because  they  were  profane  and  wicked,  a  violation 
of  the  rights  of  man  and  a  usurpation  of  the  authority 
of  God.     Hence  the  determination  of  Protestants  to 
reduce  the  tangled  mass  of  teachings  and  usages  that 
had  held  the  multitudes  so  long  in  spiritual  bondage,  to 


Protestantism  99 

the  simplicity  that  they  believed  to  have  existed  in  the 
original  faith  of  Christians.  Hence  also  their  repudia- 
tion of  ecclesiastical  authority  in  favor  of  the  real  author- 
ity of  those  Scriptures  that  came  directly  from  God. 

The  religious  view  of  God  carried  with  it  a  religious 
view  of  the  Bible.  The  demand  for  certainty  in  our 
relations  with  God  implied  a  need  for  a  pure  expression 
of  his  will.  This  the  Protestants  found  in  the  Christian 
(and  Jewish)  Scriptures.  Whatever  we  may  now  say 
as  to  the  value  of  the  presuppositions  with  which  they 
approached  the  study  of  the  Bible  or  as  to  the  value  of 
their  methods  of  interpretation,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  they  made  an  honest  attempt  to  understand  its 
true  and  original  meaning,  and  that,  not  in  the  interest 
of  historical  or  literary  knowledge,  but  in  the  interest 
of  their  religious  faith.  They  revered  it  as  the  "pure 
word  of  God"  and  sought  to  obey  its  instructions  as  the 
commands  of  God.  The  Catholic  church  had  utilized 
the  Bible  in  the  interest  of  a  system,  but  the  Protestants 
sought  to  find  in  it  the  disclosure  of  the  mutual  approach 
of  God  and  man,  and  to  them  largely  we  owe  the  exalta- 
tion of  its  religious  value,  even  if,  as  we  must  confess, 
they  often  subordinated  it  to  a  system  of  doctrines  partly 
derived  from  another  source. 

The  Protestant  religious  spirit  moved  between  a 
negative  and  a  positive  pole.  The  negative  pole  was  a 
sense  of  ill-desert.  The  catechumen  who  studied  the 
Heidelberg  Confession  learned  to  speak  of  "my  sins" 
in  the  very  first  sentence  he  uttered.  The  sense  of  sin 
lay  heavily  on  the  conscience  of  those  believers.  The 
language  of  the  Fifty-first  Psalm  was  spontaneous  to 
them  and  it  was  often  on  their  lips.     They  accepted  from 


ioo  What  Is  Christianity? 

Catholicism  and  Augustine  the  doctrine  of  original  sin 
because  it  seemed  to  utter  the  truth  of  their  experience, 
and  they  intensified  its  meaning  and  tried  to  take  it  in 
its  most  fearful  sense.  When  they  spoke  of  sin  it  was 
not  a  metaphysical  defect  or  want  of  true  knowledge 
they  had  particularly  in  mind,  but  the  contrast  of  the 
human  character  when  they  contemplated  the  holiness 
of  God.  Sin  was  moral,  it  was  rebellion,  it  was  spiritual 
turpitude,  it  was  ill-desert;  and  they  could  find  no  better 
expression  of  its  unworthiness  than  the  Catholic  doctrine 
of  an  endless  hell  of  torment.  Nevertheless,  when  they 
thought  of  God,  the  principal  emphasis  was  not  upon  sin. 
The  positive  pole  of  the  Protestant  religious  spirit 
was  a  consciousness  of  being  the  recipient  of  grace.  Here 
these  believers  followed  Augustine  and,  like  him,  they 
emphasized  the  greatness  of  their  sin  all  the  more  because 
they  believed  that  thereby  they  exalted  the  divine  grace. 
The  sense  of  sin  was  only  the  dark  background  of  the 
picture  of  their  inner  life.  Their  spirit  was  not  gloomy 
in  the  end,  but  it  was  filled  with  a  joyful  confidence. 
This  is  what  made  their  tremendous  achievements  pos- 
sible. They  were  filled  with  the  feeling  of  dependence 
on  God,  but  it  was  not  the  dependence  of  the  mere  sup- 
pliant or  beggar,  or  of  the  hopeless  criminal  on  his  way 
to  the  gallows.  It  was  the  dependence  of  one  who  was 
aware  that  the  divine  love  had  flowed  out  upon  him  and 
made  him  a  being  of  the  higher  order.  It  was  the 
dependence  of  the  loved  one  upon  the  lover,  such  a 
dependence  as  finds  its  best  expression  in  a  loyal  and 
hearty  self-surrender.  "I,  with  body  and  soul,  both  in  life 
and  in  death,  am  not  my  own,  but  belong  to  my  faithful 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ."     This  is  one  of  the  things  that 


Protestantism  101 

made  the  doctrine  of  election  and  predestination  so 
dear  to  them;  it  confirmed  the  assurance  of  the  divine 
favor. 

This  union  of  the  sense  of  sin  and  the  assurance  of 
grace  rested  on  a  vision  of  the  cross  of  Christ.  It  was 
not  that  they  contemplated  the  picture  of  his  suffering 
as  valuable  for  its  own  sake.  It  was  not  that  they  were 
trying,  after  the  Catholic  fashion,  to  repeat  in  their  own 
souls  the  agonies  of  Jesus  on  the  cross  as  the  perfection 
of  asceticism,  but  it  was  because  they  believed  that 
"where  sin  abounded  grace  did  abound  the  more  exceed- 
ingly," and  in  the  suffering  of  Christ  they  saw  this  prin- 
ciple in  operation  as  an  act  of  God  himself.  It  was  not 
the  suffering  of  the  cross  so  much  as  its  moral  signifi- 
cance that  made  it  the  center  of  their  faith.  They  could 
live  henceforth  confidently  and  trustfully  because  this 
supreme  gift  assured  all  other  good. 

Secondly:  The  faith  of  Protestantism  appears  in  its 
attitude  of  assured  confidence  rather  than  trembling  anxiety 
toward  the  course  of  the  world.  While  mysticism  sought 
to  scorn  the  world,  while  Catholicism  viewed  it  mostly 
with  mingled  fear  and  contempt,  Protestantism  takes 
a  positive  religious  interest  in  it.  Notwithstanding  the 
occasional  lapses  of  Calvinists,  and  notwithstanding  the 
perpetuation  of  their  Catholic  inheritance  of  the  view 
that  nature  had  been  corrupted  and  that  the  ills  of  this 
life  are  made  great  in  order  that  our  hearts  might  be 
weaned  from  it  and  prepared  for  the  world  to  come,  the 
Protestants  drew  great  spiritual  comfort  and  inspiration 
from  the  contemplation  of  the  world  of  nature  and  of 
man.  Lacking  the  modern  scientific  view  of  the  con- 
stancy of  nature,  they  enjoyed  a  religious  anticipation 


102  What  Is  Christianity? 

of  it  in  the  conviction  that  events  in  the  material 
world— from  the  movements  of  a  planet  to  the  stirrings 
of  a  blade  of  grass— and  events  of  human  history,  even 
of  the  most  trifling  and  seemingly  fortuitous  kind — from 
the  bad  deeds  of  wicked  men  to  the  sublimest  sacrifices 
of  good  men — came  under  the  direct  control  of  an  unerr- 
ing and  kind  Providence.     It  was  in  no  spirit  of  cold 
speculation   or   fatalism   that    the   Westminster    Con- 
fession asserted  that  "God  from  all  eternity  did,  by  the 
most  wise  and  holy  counsel  of  his  own  will,  freely  and 
unchangeably  ordain  whatsoever  comes  to  pass,"  but 
because  it  was,  as  Calvin  held,  the  essential  postulate 
of  "the  inestimable  felicity  of  a  pious  mind."     It  was 
not  that  these  people  had  consciously  worked  out  a  spec- 
ulative view  of  the  universe  or  fancied  that  they  could 
demonstrate  the  truth  of  such  a  hypothesis,  but  because 
they  had  a  consciousness  of  the  indispensability  of  the 
divine  presence  at  all  times.     They  must  see  God  every- 
where in  order  to  be  at  peace  in  the  midst  of  the  turmoils 
of  their  time.    What  seemed  inexplicable  in  a  world 
that  he  made  they  felt  must  be  governed  "by  the  secret 
counsel  of  God."     Everything  in  the  world  had  a  reli- 
gious   significance    to    them.     Even  inanimate  objects 
"  exert  their  force  only  in  so  far  as  directed  by  the  imme- 
diate hand  of  God."     They  were  not  unaware  of  the 
danger  to  faith  and  to  morality  in  such  a  view,  but  they 
were  willing  to  endure  those  risks  for  the  sake  of  the 
assurance  it  gave  that  "all  things  must  work  together 
for  my  salvation."     This  abiding  sense  of  subjection, 
with  all  things,  to  God's  will  was  quite  in  keeping  with 
the  Protestant  conviction  that  there  was  free  access  to 
him  in  every  place  and  all  the  world  was  a  sanctuary. 


Protestantism  103 

Thirdly:  Protestant  religious  faith  embraced  a  con- 
sciousness of  holy  inspiration,  purification  of  heart,  and 
strength  of  will.  The  Protestants  felt  themselves  superior 
to  Catholics  because  the  latter  fell  back  on  a  belief  in  the 
mysterious  gifts  supposedly  communicated  in  symbols, 
and  lacked  that  "secret  testimony  of  the  Spirit"  that 
gave  the  light  of  noonday  to  the  human  soul.  It  is  true 
that  utterances  of  Protestant  piety  abound  in  confessions 
of  utter  unworthiness  and  even  worthlessness,  but  that 
was  meant  to  refer  to  men  apart  from  the  grace  of  God — 
which  was  not  their  true  self.  It  was  this  that  enabled 
the  Protestants  to  dispense  with  the  absolutions  of 
priests,  the  mediation  of  saints,  and  the  voice  of  the 
church  to  certify  the  truth  to  them,  because  they  had 
the  truth  within  them,  because  they  felt  that  a  pure 
heart  could  never  receive  punishment  from  God,  and 
because  he  who  receives  the  divine  assurance  of  blessed- 
ness in  his  soul  can  accept  no  other.  Hence  it  was  that 
they  so  often — extravagantly,  it  seems  to  us — regarded 
those  who  opposed  their  convictions  as  ipso  facto  enemies 
of  God.  Their  doctrine  of  the  Scriptures  became  a  pro- 
tection to  them  against  the  dangers  of  fanaticism  to 
which  such  a  faith  made  them  subject.  Indeed,  it  must 
be  pointed  out  that  they  went  so  far  as  to  persecute  with 
extreme  severity  those  who  carried  this  sense  of  the 
indwelling  of  the  divine  Spirit  to  the  whole  length,  and  it 
sometimes  became  a  very  weak  factor  in  Protestant  life. 

3.   THE  PROTESTANT  ESTIMATE  OF  HUMAN  LIFE — ITS 
MORAL  OUTLOOK 

It  will  hardly  be  contended  that  people  who  were 
ready  to  put  men  into  prisons  or  send  them  to  death 
because  of  a  refusal  to  accept  their  beliefs  on  the  highest 


104  What  Is  Christianity? 

and  most  difficult  of  all  questions,  or  who  regarded  a 
large  portion  of  the  human  race  as  heirs  of  the  misdeeds 
of  another  and  the  inevitable  consequences  of  those 
misdeeds  by  eternal  divine  decree  and  without  their  con- 
sent in  advance,  or  who  sentenced  men  to  everlasting 
suffering  for  the  glory  of  God,  could  have  possessed  the 
most  exalted  conception  of  the  worth  and  sacredness 
of  human  life.  Yet  it  is  true  that  Protestantism 
maintained  a  high  estimate  of  the  human  personality 
notwithstanding  these  shocking  facts.  Indeed,  one 
might  almost  say  that  these  very  defects  bear  par- 
tial testimony  to  the  dignity  of  the  Protestant  view 
of  man. 

In  the  bloody  persecution  of  Catholics  and  other 
"  heretics"  the  Protestants  proved  that  they  had  learned 
only  too  well  the  lesson  that  Catholicism  had  taught 
them.  Human  life  appears  of  comparatively  small 
account  when  it  may  be  destroyed  for  a  difference  of 
opinion.  On  the  continent  of  Europe  in  those  days  men 
generally  felt  small  compunction  on  account  of  killing 
men  for  these  differences.  In  England  it  was  otherwise. 
Queen  Mary  was  nicknamed  "the  Bloody,"  though  she 
had  executed  for  their  faith  only  two  hundred  and  odd 
people.  On  the  Continent  she  would  have  been  regarded 
as  rather  merciful.  The  Protestant  statesmen  of  Eliza- 
beth's reign  declared  that  they  had  put  none  to  death 
for  their  religious  beliefs.  But  this  was  exceptional 
among  Protestants.  How  it  harmonized  with  the  Prot- 
estant contention  for  the  right  of  individual  interpre- 
tation of  Scripture  cannot  be  shown.  At  the  same  time 
it  does  bear  testimony  to  their  view  that  men  can  be  held 
responsible  for  their  opinions. 


Protestantism  105 

It  is  somewhat  the  same  with  the  Protestant  view  of 
an  endless  hell.  That  Christian  men  should  be  able  to 
face  with  comparative  complacency  the  prospect  of  such 
a  fate  awaiting  the  majority  of  mankind  seems  now 
incredible,  or  at  least  inexplicable.  How  can  it  be  said 
that  the  human  personality  is  sacred  if  it  be  true  that 
"by  the  decree  of  God,  for  the  manifestation  of  his  glory, 
some  men  and  angels  are  predestinated  unto  everlasting 
life,  and  others  foreordained  to  everlasting  death"  that 
"their  number  is  so  certain  and  definite  that  it  cannot 
be  either  increased  or  diminished,"  and  that  the  second 
class  "shall  be  cast  into  eternal  torments"?  And  yet 
it  must  be  said  that  this  terrible  doctrine  can  be  taken, 
not  so  much  as  an  essential  view  of  Protestantism,  but 
rather  as  a  perversion  of  the  profound  conviction  that 
the  moral  issues  of  a  human  life  are  so  solemn  that  by 
nothing  short  of  their  eternal  outcome  can  we  estimate 
their  meaning. 

Taking  such  statements,  then,  not  as  adequate  or 
correct  expressions  of  the  fundamental  Protestant  esti- 
mate of  the  worth  of  human  life,  we  may  see  in  them  a 
clue  to  the  Protestant  conviction  in  this  regard.  That 
is  to  say,  the  value  of  the  human  personality  is  based 
not  so  much  upon  its  aesthetic  or  its  intellectual  powers 
as  upon  its  ethical  quality  and  its  moral  possibilities. 
Human  destiny  is  twofold  because  there  are  just  two 
alternatives  before  men,  and  these  are  morally  deter- 
mined. 

First:  Human  conduct  must  always  be  interpreted  in 
its  relation  to  a  holy,  commanding  will.  This  will  has  been 
revealed  to  men  in  an  inviolable  law — the  everlasting 
"thou  shalt"  and  its  answer,  "I  ought."    This  law, 


106  What  Is  Christianity? 

though  manifold  in  its  injunctions,  is  one  in  principle. 
A  transgression  of  it  in  any  one  particular  is  a  violation 
of  the  whole.  It  covers  every  relation  in  life  and  there- 
fore it  can  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  absolute 
holiness,  unexceptional  obedience.  Its  majesty  is  inef- 
fable, its  validity  eternal! 

There  can  be  no  compromise  with  its  demands.  There 
can  be  no  neutrality  toward  it,  there  can  be  no  division 
of  loyalty  to  it.  There  can  be  no  middle  ground  between 
obedience  and  disobedience.  Therefore  there  can  be  no 
trifling  with  it,  no  exceptions  to  the  moral  imperative, 
no  slackening  of  its  claims,  no  compounding  of  felonies. 
As  every  crime  is  a  sin  and  every  sin  a  crime,  punishment 
must  be  without  compunction  or  reserve.  The  sanctions 
of  the  law  are  inevitable.  The  dual  destiny  is  essential 
to  its  authority.  This  it  was,  more  than  anything  else, 
that  led  to  the  severity  with  which  the  demoralizing 
practices  of  the  Catholic  church  were  repressed  in  Prot- 
estant countries.  The  sale  of  indulgences  and  other 
modes  of  bargaining  with  the  moral  law  were  not  simply 
foolish  and  vain  in  the  eyes  of  the  Reformers,  but  they 
were  wicked  and  deserving  of  punishment.  Unfortu- 
nately, we  must  add,  this  same  sternness  of  moral  judg- 
ment had  something  to  do  with  the  extravagant  penalties 
that  were  visited  by  the  courts  on  delinquents  in  Protes- 
tant countries.  The  grandeur  of  the  Protestant  con- 
science was  sometimes  turned  into  a  spectacle  of  horror. 

Secondly:  While  Catholicism  accentuated  the  negative 
side  of  morality,  Protestantism  laid  its  emphasis  on  the 
positive  side.  It  was  not  the  qualities  of  renunciation, 
resignation,  or  self-obliteration  that  charmed  the  Prot- 
estant soul,  but  the  exercise  of  the  positive  qualities  of 


Protestantism  107 

industry,  courage,  and  determination.  The  Kingdom  of 
God  was  to  be  won,  not  by  retirement  from  the  tasks 
of  common  life,  but  in  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  them. 
Among  the  saints  of  Protestantism  were  the  men  of 
affairs.  So  insistent  were  the  Reformers  on  the  highest 
standards  for  all  that  they  repudiated  the  idea  of  a  grada- 
tion among  Christians  according  to  the  degree  to  which 
they  severally  conformed  to  an  ideal.  The  demands  of 
the  standard  of  life  were  absolute. 

In  this  way  the  new  form  of  Christian  faith  inculcated 
in  its  adherents  a  deep  self-respect,  a  self-affirmation  that 
threatened  at  times  to  degenerate  into  self-assertion. 
The  man  was  elevated  consciously  above  the  organiza- 
tions or  the  society  in  which  he  found  himself.  Against 
the  very  institutions  that  had  nurtured  him  he  rose  up 
in  protest  because  of  their  defects.  He  judged  and 
denounced  the  society  that  had  conserved  the  very  moral 
interests  that  he  held  dear,  because  it  fell  short  of  its  own 
ideals.  He  went  even  farther.  He  challenged  the  very 
ideals  to  which  he  had  been  bred  and  called  men  to  the 
higher.  The  Protestant  was  essentially  a  moral  pro- 
gressive, a  reformer.  He  found  no  resting-place  for  his 
feet;  he  must  ever  go  forward.  Pure  conservatism  was 
stagnation  and  stagnation  was  death,  the  very  negation 
of  the  moral.  It  was  natural,  then,  that  division  should 
occur  in  the  Protestant  ranks  as  they  sought  the  higher 
ideals.  It  was  healthful,  too.  For  it  was  not  conform- 
ity to  type — much  as  some  Protestants  sought  it — that 
gave  Protestantism  its  solidity,  but  in  the  inner  impera- 
tive to  transcend  all  types  it  found  its  firmness  and 
stability.  For  the  soul  of  Protestantism  was  in  the 
man  and  not  in  the  system.     "Here  I  stand,  I  can  no 


108  What  Is  Christianity? 

otherwise,"  said  Luther  before  the  Diet  of  Worms — 
the  man  confronting  the  system  and  in  those  very  words 
placing  beneath  the  system  a  bomb  that  blew  it  into 
fragments ! 

Protestant  morality  is  constructive.  It  builds  from 
within  rather  than  from  without.  It  has  more  con- 
fidence in  the  power  of  personal  initiative  to  work  the 
good  of  humanity  than  in  external  restraint  or  constraint. 
It  seeks  unity,  but  the  unity  that  dreads  uniformity; 
a  unity  into  which  men  grow  and  not  a  union  that  forbids 
growth.  Thus,  notwithstanding  its  oft-repeated  theo- 
logical dogma  of  human  depravity,  its  confidence  reposed 
in  that  very  human  nature  which  Catholicism  had  taught 
its  leaders  to  describe  as  fallen  and  destitute  of  good. 
Hence  the  Protestant  churches,  while  insisting  that  good 
works — such  "good  works"  as  the  Catholic  church 
required  as  the  condition  of  salvation — were  in  no  sense 
saving,  demanded,  nevertheless,  that  the  fruits  of  sal- 
vation should  be  manifested  by  everyone  in  good  works. 
The  Calvinistic  churches,  in  particular,  exercised  a  severe 
discipline  over  their  members  and  even  found  in  good 
works  the  assurance  of  their  divine  election. 

Thirdly:  The  ethics  of  Protestantism  stands  for  the 
wholesomeness  and  sanctity  of  the  natural.  Catholicism 
has  put  the  stigma  of  uncleanness  upon  the  natural. 
Natural  modes  of  life  and  natural  institutions  were 
unholy  until  they  had  been  brought  under  the  cleansing 
power  of  the  church's  sacraments.  Even  the  wedded 
life  and  the  propagation  of  the  race  are  traced  to  evil, 
that  is,  fleshly  concupiscence,  until  by  subjection  to  the 
sacrament  of  marriage  the  evil  character  of  it  is  purged. 
But  notwithstanding  the  use  of  the  sacrament  of  mar- 


Protestantism  109 

riage,  the  highest  life,  true  Christian  perfection,  is  found 
in  celibacy.  The  wedded  life,  parenthood,  are  placed 
on  a  lower  grade.  The  orthodox  Catholic  view  of  the 
natural  institution  of  marriage  seemed  to  the  Protes- 
tants to  carry  with  it  a  derogatory  view  of  many  other 
natural  modes  of  life  and  the  forms  of  their  develop- 
ment, such  as  industry,  trades,  commerce,  and  the  duties 
of  civil  and  political  life  in  general. 

From  the  first  stages  of  its  progress  Protestantism 
consciously  joined  issue  with  Catholicism  at  this  point. 
The  Augsburg  Confession  argues: 

The  commandments  of  God  and  the  true  worship  of  God  are 
obscured  when  men  hear  that  monks  alone  are  in  that  state  of 
perfection;  because  that  Christian  perfection  is  this,  to  fear  God 
sincerely,  and,  again,  to  conceive  great  faith  and  to  trust  as- 
suredly that  God  is  pacified  toward  us  for  Christ's  sake:  to  ask, 
and  certainly  to  look  for,  help  from  God  in  all  our  affairs,  accord- 
ing to  our  calling;  and  outwardly  to  do  good  works  diligently  and 
to  attend  to  our  vocation.  In  these  things  doth  true  perfection 
and  the  true  worship  of  God  consist :  it  doth  not  consist  in  single- 
ness of  life,  in  beggary,  or  in  vile  apparel.     [All  italics  are  mine.] 

The  Protestants  held  that  in  the  purity  of  the  natural 
family  relation  the  basis  was  laid  for  the  purity  of  all 
those  forms  of  industry  and  civil  life  which  guard  the 
family  interest  and  supply  the  family's  needs.  Here 
was  the  foundation  of  the  view  that  the  whole  of  human- 
ity may  be  regarded  as  one  great  family  founded  in 
nature  and  therefore  divine. 

The  Protestant  sees  the  ideal  of  womanhood,  not  in 
the  pale  face  and  upturned  eyes  of  her  that  wears  the 
garb  of  the  nun,  but  rather  in  the  mother  heart  and  busy 
life  of  her  who  stands  with  uprolled  sleeves  before  the 
washtub  or  rocks  her  baby  to  sleep  in  her  arms  or  cares 


no  What  Is  Christianity? 

for  the  food  and  clothing  of  the  inmates  of  the  home. 
He  sees  the  ideal  of  manhood,  not  in  him  of  the  shaven 
head  or  priestly  gown  who  has  scorned  the  love  of  the 
sexes,  the  affections  and  the  trials  of  the  home,  the  bar- 
gaining at  the  market-place,  the  administration  of  a  city, 
or  the  execution  of  law  and  justice  in  the  state;  but 
he  sees  the  truly  Christian  man  in  him  of  the  brawny 
arm  and  busy  brain  who  plunges  into  the  common  things 
of  life  as  his  Father's  business  and  finds  the  fulfilment 
of  his  heart's  ambitions  in  the  secular  task  of  every  day. 
When  one  finds  that  it  is  the  Protestant  peoples  who  are 
progressive  in  morals,  in  knowledge,  in  industry,  and  in 
politics,  it  is  only  what  one  should  expect. 

4.   PROTESTANTISM  AS  A  THEORY  OF   TRUTH — ITS 
DOCTRINAL  STANDARDS 

On  this  involved  and  weighty  subject  it  is  not  pos- 
sible to  say  more  than  a  few  words  in  the  present  con- 
nection. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  from  the  outset  that  while 
Catholicism  is  fundamentally  institutional,  Protestant- 
ism is  fundamentally  personal.  Catholicism  has  its 
sacraments;  Protestantism  has  its  truth.  Catholicism 
insists  on  assent;  Protestantism  on  faith.  Catholicism 
inculcates  submission;  Protestantism  inculcates  knowl- 
edge. Catholicism,  accordingly,  regards  its  doctrines 
as  legal  requirements,  as  preconditions  of  receiving  the 
church's  benefits;  Protestantism  regards  its  doctrines 
as  the  very  life  of  the  soul,  as  the  knowledge  of  the  way 
of  God  to  the  heart  of  the  man  and  the  way  of  the  man  to 
the  heart  of  God.  Protestantism,  therefore,  takes  its 
doctrines  more  seriously  than  Catholicism  and  takes 


Protestantism 


in 


special  pains  to  inculcate  them.  Thus,  while  the  ritual 
is  central  to  Catholic  worship,  the  preaching  or  instruc- 
tion is  central  to  Protestant  worship.  The  priest 
gives  place  to  the  teacher  and  the  sacraments  to  the 
doctrine. 

The  doctrines  which  Protestantism  inherited  from 
the  Catholic  church  take  on  new  vigor.  For  example, 
the  Protestant  orthodox  creeds  accept,  and  renew 
allegiance  to,  the  Nicene  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  the 
two  natures  of  Christ.  With  the  Catholic  church  these 
had  become  mysteries  to  be  received  without  insight 
into  their  worth  and  they  had  lost  their  original  meaning 
for  the  masses  (and  probably  for  the  priests),  having  a 
sort  of  legal  value  only.  The  Protestant  theologians 
renewed  the  vigor  of  these  beliefs  by  impressing  on  the 
minds  of  men  the  need  of  a  mediatorial  sufferer  to  bear 
the  guilt  of  sinful  men,  the  actual  enjoyment  of  the  favor 
of  God,  and  the  certainty  of  an  inner  conscious  renewal 
and  fellowship  with  God  in  the  Spirit.  The  old  doctrines 
lived  again,  though  in  a  very  different  sense  from  that 
which  they  had  in  the  earlier  times.  The  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity  and  the  doctrine  of  the  God-man  expressed 
the  Protestant  experience.  There  was  a  reconstruction, 
but  from  a  different  point  of  view. 

If  the  heart  of  ancient  Catholic  piety  lay  in  the  long- 
ing for  infinitude  and  immortality,  the  longing  of  the 
Protestant  heart  was  for  righteousness,  the  deliverance 
from  guilt,  and  the  peace  and  power  of  mind  which  right- 
eousness produces.  The  redemption  which  Protestant- 
ism sought  was  not  escape  from  materiality  and  death, 
but  escape  from  condemnation.  Its  great  doctrines  be- 
gin really  with  its  conception  of  justification.     That  is, 


ii2  What  Is  Christianity? 

God  was  first  of  all  the  Lord  and  Judge  of  mankind. 
The  solemn  scene  of  the  court  room  is  the  best  symbol 
of  his  relations  with  us.  The  redemption  of  the  sinner 
takes  the  form  of  a  process  at  law.  It  can  occur  only 
through  the  satisfaction  of  offended  justice,  and  this  can 
be  only  on  condition  of  someone's  bearing  the  penalty. 
The  hopelessness  of  man  is  relieved  by  the  appearing  of 
a  God-sent,  divine-human  sufferer  who  bears  the  eternal 
penalty  and  frees  the  sinner.  The  whole  is  an  act  of  the 
unmerited  and  infinite  grace  of  God. 

It  was  natural  that,  when  assurance  of  this  great  gift 
was  sought,  the  answer  to  the  inquiring  heart  should  be 
first  given  in  the  affirmation  that  men  are  justified 
through  faith  and  not  by  their  works.  Then,  when  it 
became  necessary  to  assure  men  that  the  basis  of  such 
an  estimate  of  faith  was  safe,  the  answer  took  the  form 
of  a  doctrine  of  atonement.  The  center  of  gravity  was 
transferred  from  an  inward  experience  to  an  objective, 
divinely  constituted  reality.  But  there  was  incomplete 
satisfaction  in  this  view  till  it  was  determined  whether 
/  and  you  are  among  those  who  are  thus  actually 
redeemed,  whether  there  is  absolute  certainty  of  our 
redemption.  The  answer  now  takes  the  form  of  a  doc- 
trine of  divine  election  and  foreordination.  And  thus, 
at  length,  at  the  hands  of  the  Calvinistic  theologians, 
the  whole  career  of  mankind  from  the  eternity  of  the 
past  to  the  eternity  of  the  future  was  construed  as  the 
outworking  of  an  absolutely  irresistible  and  sure  divine 
purpose  that  involves  the  everlasting  and  unchangeable 
destiny  of  each  and  all  according  as  the  inscrutable  will 
of  God  determined  from  eternity.  Thus  Protestant 
theology  became  a  theory  of  God's  government  of  the 


Protestantism 


113 


universe.  The  glory  of  God  is  everything  and  the 
desires  and  rights  of  the  individual  man  pass  out  of 
sight. 

It  is  plain  that  the  theoretical  basis  of  Protestant 
doctrine  was  Paulinism  interpreted  through  Augustine. 
More  exactly,  the  Pauline  experience  and  the  Pauline 
exposition  of  sin  and  grace,  narrowed  to  the  Augustinian 
experience  and  theory  of  world-government,  were  treated 
as  the  heart  of  the  gospel  and  the  clue  to  the  Scriptures. 
Everything  else  was  brought  to  the  test  of  this  touch- 
stone. Reformation  theology  was  largely  in  substance 
a  commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  The 
methods  of  the  Protestant  theologians  were  those  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  theologians  purged  of  extravagances 
and  ecclesiastical  claims.  Natural  theology  is  accepted 
as  far  as  it  goes.  It  is  supplemented  and  corrected  by 
the  Bible,  which  is  the  full  and  final  revelation  of  God's 
plan  of  salvation.  The  teachings  of  the  Scriptures  were 
a  unit.  There  was  little  attention  to  their  historical 
setting,  and  more  and  more  they  tended  to  become  a  law 
for  thinking  as  well  as  for  life.  Speculations  and  queries 
tending  to  bring  theological  dogmas  into  question  were 
dismissed  as  impertinent  and  profane. 

5.   PROTESTANTISM  ON  ITS  INSTITUTIONAL  SIDE 

Here  Protestantism  stood  rather  between  Catholicism 
and  mysticism.  It  had  not  the  Catholic  realistic  idea 
of  the  church.  Christianity  was  greater  than  church. 
The  invisible  and  spiritual  " church"  was  greater  than 
the  visible  and  temporal  church.  Salvation  was  found 
only  in  the  former,  but  was  not  dependent  truly  on  the 
latter.    And  yet  Protestantism  was  not  clear  on  this 


ii4  What  Is  Christianity? 

point.     It  shrank  from  a  full  abandonment  of  the  Catho- 
lic view  of  the  efficacy  of  sacraments. 

Sometimes,  especially  among  Calvinists,  there  was 
held  a  legalistic  view  of  the  church.  The  Bible  was  the 
lawbook  prescribing  its  forms  and  its  activities.  Others, 
like  some  Anglicans  and  Lutherans,  held  to  a  looser 
view  of  the  church  and  were  more  concerned  to  secure 
the  independence  of  the  state  than  the  freedom  of  the 
church.  Others,  again,  like  the  Anabaptists  and  the 
(later)  Baptists,  held  firmly  to  the  freedom  of  the  church 
and  had  little  to  say  positively  of  the  state.  On  the 
whole,  it  is  to  be  said  that  the  Protestants  found  in  their 
Christian  faith  a  purifying  and  strengthening  influence 
working  upon  the  natural  institutions  of  human  life  and 
raising  the  common  to  the  level  of  the  holy.  Thus, 
instead  of  the  divine  origin  of  the  ecclesiastical  order, 
Protestantism  tended  to  exalt  the  divine  sanction  of  the 
civil  order.  In  place  of  the  divine  right  of  popes  there 
was  the  divine  right  of  kings  or  princes  or  parliaments. 
Instead  of  the  supremacy  of  the  priest  in  the  life  of  the 
household  there  was  the  supremacy  of  the  parent. 
Protestantism,  therefore,  on  the  whole,  interpreted 
Christianity  not  as  institutional  but  as  a  supernatural 
transforming  energy  working  through  the  natural  insti- 
tutions of  men  and  exalting  them  to  be  the  natural 
instruments  of  God's  grace  as  it  works  out  a  heavenly, 
beneficent  purpose. 


CHAPTER  V 
RATIONALISM 

The  term  "rationalism,"  like  so  many  other  hybrids, 
is  commonly  used  by  controversialists  in  a  somewhat 
derogatory  sense.  No  such  implication  is  intended  in 
the  present  discussion.  To  some  readers,  however,  it 
may  occasion  surprise  to  find  rationalism  treated  as  one 
of  the  typical  interpretations  of  Christianity,  for  people 
have  been  accustomed  to  hearing  it  characterized  as  a  foe 
to  Christianity  and,  indeed,  to  all  religion.  For  they  will 
say,  perhaps,  "Does  it  not  seek  to  discredit  the  authority 
of  the  Bible  ?  Does  it  not  repudiate  the  essential  Chris- 
tian doctrines  ?  Does  it  not  deny  the  need  or  the  reality 
of  any  revelation  whatsoever?  Does  it  not,  in  fact, 
ignore  the  supernatural  altogether  ?" 

That  there  have  been  forms  of  rationalism  that,  to 
the  minds  of  their  advocates,  were  synonymous  with 
religious  unbelief  is  not  to  be  disputed.  There  have 
been  not  a  few  thinkers  who,  in  the  name  of  what  they 
call  reason,  have  undertaken  to  show  the  absurdity  of 
religious  hopes  and  beliefs.  Such  a  type  of  rationalism 
is  pretty  sure  to  misinterpret  the  religion  it  seeks  to  com- 
bat. But  in  history  there  has  appeared  also  another 
type  of  rationalism  that  has  sought  to  be  friendly  to 
religion,  and  particularly  to  Christianity,  a  rationalism 
that  professes,  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil  faith  by  freeing 
it  from  the  influence  of  ideas  that  seemed  to  confuse  and 
corrupt  it.    There  has  been  and  there  is  a  rationalism 

us 


n6  What  Is  Christianity? 

that  seeks  to  minister  to  faith  by  insisting  that  the 
utterances  of  religion  shall  harmonize  with  the  canons 
of  thought. 

It  is  not  easy  to  define  rationalism.  It  lacks  the 
concreteness  of  Catholicism  and  Protestantism.  We 
cannot  point  to  any  institution  or  mode  of  religious  life 
that  professes  to  embody  it.  It  lacks  the  distinctness  of 
mysticism,  for  it  does  not  seek  retirement  from  the 
world,  but  professes  an  intimate  relation  to  everything 
we  do  or  say.  Moreover,  all  men  claim  to  be  rational, 
though,  according  to  Carlyle,  there  are  comparatively 
few  who  can  make  good  the  claim!  To  be  rational  is 
to  be  possessed  of  reason,  that  is,  the  power  of  orderly, 
consistent  thinking.  But  in  addition  to  the  power  of 
thought  there  are  other  functions  of  nature  or  forms  of 
experience,  such  as  feeling  and  volition,  which  seem 
very  different  and  almost,  if  not  quite,  independent  of 
thought.  Unthinking  emotions  seem  to  spring  up  from 
some  unfathomed  depth  of  our  nature  and  to  carry  us 
on  by  the  force  of  their  impulse  to  unthought-of  and 
unintended  results.  Many  people  seem  to  be  governed 
by  unreflecting  feeling.  Others,  again,  lack  both  thought 
and  feeling,  it  would  seem.  For  by  the  mere  force  and 
doggedness  of  will  they  do  things  which  set  both  human 
feelings  and  human  thinking  at  naught.  A  rationalist 
in  general  is  one  who,  while  recognizing  a  place  for  the 
play  of  feeling  and  of  will  in  our  nature,  seeks  to  sub- 
ordinate both  to  the  controlling  force  of  thought.  He 
stands  for  the  rightful  supremacy  of  intellect  in  men. 
Emotion  and  will  are  wayward  and  fitful  in  themselves 
and  they  may  become  wanton  and  harmful.  Mere 
animalism  lies  in  that  direction.     The  distinctive  dig- 


Rationalism  117 

nity  of  man  consists  in  that  intelligent  discernment  or 
judgment  which  makes  him  superior  to  all  the  fluctua- 
tions of  feeling  and  volition  and  gives  his  life  an  order 
and  steadiness  like  that  of  the  ordered  cosmos  around 
him.  Thought  is  legislative  in  relation  to  emotion 
and  will.  Man  understands,  man  reasons,  he  is  logical. 
That  is  what  makes  him  man.  A  rationalist  in  reli- 
gion is  one  who  stands  for  the  absolute  supremacy 
of  the  logical  understanding  in  the  determination  of 
the  true  and  the  false  in  religion  as  in  everything 
else. 

It  is  held,  then,  that  a  direct  contradiction  in  any- 
thing is  intolerable.  The  illogical  is  the  false.  Men 
cannot  permanently  believe  anything  but  the  truth, 
whether  it  be  in  matters  of  fact  or  of  conduct  or  of  faith. 
Science  is  concerned  with  matters  of  fact,  ethics  with 
matters  of  conduct,  and  theology  with  matters  of  faith 
or  religion.  The  principle  that  determines  ultimately 
what  is  to  be  held  for  truth  is  the  same  in  all  three 
realms.  This  means,  then,  that  as  little  as,  for  example, 
science  can  endure  a  contradiction  in  fact,  so  also  it  is 
impossible  to  admit  a  contradiction  between  science  and 
ethics  or  theology.  Anything  that  would  destroy  the 
harmony  between  these  is  to  be  rejected.  Nothing  can 
be  held  to  be  theologically  true  that  is  scientifically 
false.  A  true  religion  is  one  whose  doctrines  are  true 
and  a  false  religion  is  one  whose  doctrines  are  false. 
Religion  must  stand  the  logical  test. 

Now,  in  assigning  this  primacy  to  the  logical  under- 
standing we  are  assigning  to  it  at  the  same  time  priority. 
It  is  the  first  in  the  field.  Apart  from  it  nothing  what- 
ever is  known.     It  discovers  truth.    All  supposed  truth 


n8  What  Is  Christianity? 

that  is  communicated  to  us  through  extraordinary  chan- 
nels, whether  it  be  by  revelation  or  by  mystical  or  sub- 
conscious processes,  is  to  be  compelled  to  make  good  its 
claim  by  being  built  upon  the  prior  truth  of  the  reason. 
Reason  is  the  true  organ  of  all  knowledge  in  all  realms. 
The  true  religion  is,  in  the  end,  the  religion  of  reason. 
There  can  be  no  other.  If  we  hold  that  Christianity 
is  the  one  true  religion,  it  is  because  in  it  reason  comes  to 
her  highest  utterance  or  self-expression.  This,  it  seems 
to  me,  is  the  position  of  a  thoroughgoing  "  Christian 
rationalism." 

It  will  be  admitted  that  religious  people  commonly 
shrink  from  applying  this  rigid  test  to  their  own  faith, 
even  if  they  do  apply  it  to  the  faith  of  others.  There 
seems  to  be  something  dearer  to  them  than  logic.  They 
will  persist  in  believing  things  which  seem  to  others 
illogical  and  impossible.  In  fact,  all  the  historical  reli- 
gions have  had  traditions  of  occurrences  that  seem  to 
defy  the  power  of  reason  to  explain  or  justify.  They 
have  been  characterized  by  explosions  of  emotion  or 
daring  acts  of  will  that  offend  the  sober  sense  of  conven- 
tional humanity  and  boldly  challenge  reason  to  do  its 
worst — and  apparently  with  success.  A  stalemate  often 
arises.  Reason,  it  seems,  cannot  abandon  its  prerogative, 
and  religion  will  not.  One  shrinks  from  disorder.  The 
other  shrinks  from  the  commonplace,  the  conventional, 
the  uninspiring.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing  to  find  men 
even  of  great  intellectual  power  and  willing  to  accord 
to  reason  a  directive  relation  to  external  things  at  the 
same  time  scorning  its  claims  to  dictate  the  terms  of 
religious  belief.  The  great  Tertullian,  with  all  his  con- 
fidence that  the  soul  was  naturally  Christian,  neverthe- 


Rationalism  1 19 

less  shrank  not  from  flouting  reason  in  the  realm  of  faith: 
"  I  believe,  because  it  is  absurd."  Luther,  while  granting 
the  value  of  reason  in  morals  and  even  while  inferring 
on  rational  grounds  the  existence  of  an  eternal  divine 
being,  called  reason  a  harlot  when  it  claimed  to  discern 
and  judge  the  higher  "  things  of  the  Spirit."  Reason 
has  only  a  negative  place  in  religion.  It  comprehends 
what  God  is  not,  but  cannot  comprehend  what  God  is. 
Therefore  Luther  could  still  believe  in  the  saving  efiicacy 
of  sacraments,  though  reason  denied  it.  Nothing  is 
more  common  in  great  popular  revivals  of  religion  than 
to  find  people  under  the  power  of  torrents  of  emotion 
scouting  all  appeals  to  consistent  reflection  because  they 
feel  themselves  carried  into  a  realm  that  reason  cannot 
reach. 

It  is  when  people  attempt  to  explain  their  religion 
or  to  justify  it  by  bringing  it  into  relation  to  the  common 
conditions  of  life  that  they  get  into  trouble.  For  to 
explain  it  is  to  rationalize  it.  This  is  precisely  what  is 
attempted  in  theology.  The  effort  to  interpret  one's 
religion  is  an  effort  to  assign  to  it  an  orderly  and  constant 
place  in  the  spiritual  world  to  which  we  belong.  The 
attempt  to  prove  the  occurrence  of  a  miracle  or  explain 
the  significance  of  a  miracle  is,  in  effect,  an  attempt  to 
show  that,  so  far  from  its  being  an  inexplicable  or  wanton 
occurrence,  it  conveys  an  intelligible  meaning  to  us; 
that  is,  the  belief  in  it  is  rational.  The  same  is  true  of 
the  attempt  to  establish  or  expound  the  truth  of  a  revela- 
tion. Indeed,  all  theorizing  in  support  of  religion  is  of 
the  nature  of  an  attempt  to  naturalize  the  supernatural 
in  our  thinking,  to  make  the  sway  of  reason  coextensive 
with  the  experience  of  the  highest  realities.    No  wonder, 


120  What  Is  Christianity? 

therefore,  that  this  should  result  in  testing  religion  by 
the  canons  of  thought  and  in  tracing  its  origin,  in  part 
at  least,  to  thought. 

It  has  come  about  somewhat  naturally  that  in  the 
histories  of  rationalism,  its  critical— particularly  nega- 
tively critical — side  has  received  the  emphasis.  In  the 
progress  of  Christianity  rationalism  has  attacked  the 
superstitions  and  immoralities  of  paganism  and  prepared 
the  way  for  the  higher  faith.  It  has  appeared  as  a 
protest  against  the  dim,  dreamy,  and  indescribable  self- 
contemplation  of  the  mystics  or  as  a  reaction  against 
the  hallucinations,  visions,  trances,  or  absurdities  of  a 
crude  and  enthusiastic  revivalism.  It  has  attacked  the 
sacerdotalism  and  sacramentalism  that  constitute  the 
Catholic  system  and  prepared  the  way  for  a  Protestant- 
ism that  dissolved  that  system.  It  has  turned  upon  the 
Protestantism  that  it  helped  to  create  and  has  under- 
mined its  professions  of  a  supernatural  authority  for  its 
doctrines.  Or,  again,  it  has  pricked  the  bubbles  of  a 
soaring  speculation  and  exposed  its  vacuity.  One  might 
almost  say  that  the  rationalist  is  he  who  claims  to  be  the 
exponent  of  "common  sense,"  were  it  not  that  in  seeking 
so  persistently  to  explain  he  ends  so  often  by  explaining 
away.     Rationalism  seems  to  feed  on  other  systems. 

If  we  seek  to  reduce  the  contentions  of  rationalism 
to  their  ultimate  basis  we  may  say  that  they  repose  on 
three  pillars:  first,  the  constancy  and  value  of  the 
natural  order  of  the  universe;  second,  the  competency 
of  the  human  mind  to  discover  that  order;  third,  the 
adequacy  of  this  discovery  for  our  practical  needs.  The 
first  of  these  is  commonly  admitted  to  be  an  assumption 
underlying  science  and  philosophy  in  their  final  sweep. 


Rationalism  121 

There  is  a  universe;  two  universes  are  an  impossibility. 
This  universe  embraces  all  objects  of  possible  knowledge, 
whether  they  be  presented  to  us  by  external  perception 
or  by  introspection.  It  is  a  universe  in  which  change  is 
observed,  but  the  changes  are  continuous  and  regular. 
It  is  a  universe  of  a  developing  order.  If  we  distinguish 
the  spiritual  order  from  the  material  order,  nevertheless, 
in  the  end,  both  are  reducible  to  one,  which  we  may  call 
the  order  of  nature.  But  when  it  comes  to  the  question 
of  the  method  of  procedure  in  discovering  that  order,  the 
question  remains  open  whether  we  shall  proceed  from  a 
knowledge  of  the  spiritual  to  the  material,  or  the  reverse. 
The  second  assumption  flows  from  the  first,  since  an 
order  of  nature  undiscoverable  by  us  has  no  meaning  for 
us.  If  the  world  has  a  meaning  for  us  we  must  be  com- 
petent to  discover  it.  The  mind  knows  only  that  which 
it  discovers.  The  third  assumption  is  the  logical  infer- 
ence from  the  other  two.  We  live  in  the  universe  and 
our  practice  must  accord  with  its  character  if  life  is  not 
to  be  futile.  Rationalism,  therefore,  reposes  on  a  con- 
fidence in  the  capacity  of  the  human  mind,  in  the  exer- 
cise of  its  native  powers  of  knowledge,  to  supply  safe 
and  adequate  direction  to  life.  Religious  rationalism, 
as  a  theory,  is  that  interpretation  of  the  material  and 
spiritual  worlds  which  regards  them  as  expressing  in  the 
inner  soul  or  consciousness  of  man  the  realities  of  the 
religious  life;  that  is  to  say,  the  universe  discloses  to 
man  the  essential  relations  in  which  he  stands  to  the 
Supreme  Being — whatever  these  words  may  mean. 
Christian  rationalism  regards  this  rational  interpretation 
of  the  universe  as  the  same  in  content  with  the  essential 
doctrines  of  Christianity. 


122  What  Is  Christianity? 

I.   RATIONALISM  IN  HISTORICAL  CHRISTIANITY 

In  tracing  the  growth  of  the  historical  forms  of  the 
Christian  faith  one  cannot  avoid  the  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  the  rationalistic  attitude  has  always  been  a 
powerful  factor.  Even  if  many  of  the  historic  expres- 
sions of  the  faith  have  been  seemingly  without  any  marks 
of  regard  for  the  common  reason  of  men,  in  the  end 
they  have  always  been  obliged  to  give  an  account  of 
themselves  at  its  bar.  For  example,  Christians  have 
always  believed  that  they  were  in  possession  of  a  revela- 
tion from  God,  and  in  times  of  spontaneous  utterance 
of  the  deepest  feelings  that  men  can  experience  multi- 
tudes will  claim  that  they  have  received  a  personal  revela- 
tion. It  was  so  in  the  first  century  of  our  era.  But  at 
such  times  there  has  always  been  some  Paul  to  come 
forward  bringing  along  with  his  acknowledgment  that 
the  revelation  was  real  the  demand  that  it  be  expressed 
in  an  orderly  manner:  "When  ye  come  together,  each 
one  hath  a  psalm,  hath  a  teaching,  hath  a  revelation, 
hath  a  tongue,  hath  an  interpretation.     Let  all  things 

be  done  unto  edifying If  there  be  no  interpreter, 

let  him  keep  silence  in  the  church The  spirits 

of  the  prophets  are  subject  to  the  prophets;  for  God  is 
not  a  God  of  confusion."  "In  the  church  I  had  rather 
speak  five  words  with  my  understanding  than  ten  thou- 
sand words  in  a  tongue."  Christians  usually  have  felt 
bound  in  the  end  to  justify  their  belief  in  a  revelation 
by  showing  that  it  is  in  keeping  with  the  nature  of  all 
knowledge  and  to  that  extent,  at  least,  is  rational. 
Christians  have  always  believed  also  in  miracles,  but 
they  have  felt  compelled  to  justify  the  belief  in  the  reality 
of  miracles  by  showing  that  there  is  credible  testimony 


Rationalism  1 23 

to  their  occurrence  and  that  they  meet  a  true  need. 
This  is  just  a  way  of  saying  that  the  belief  is  in  accord 
with  rational  knowledge.  To  many  this  seems  equiva- 
lent to  the  substitution  of  reason  for  revelation  and 
miracle,  or  else  an  acknowledgment  that  the  true  revela- 
tion and  the  true  miracle  is  reason.  Let  us  glance 
rapidly  down  through  the  ages  in  which  our  present 
faith  was  in  the  making  and  see  if  it  be  so. 

Judaism  supplied  the  soil  for  the  original  planting  of 
the  Christian  gospel.  How  variegated  were  the  forms 
of  Jewish  religious  life — the  prophetic  fire,  the  priestly 
love  for  the  form  of  worship,  the  seer's  forecast  of  terrible 
judgments!  But  the  rhapsody  of  the  prophet,  the  ritual 
of  the  priest,  and  the  apocalypses  of  the  seer  were  toned 
down  by  the  sober  sense  of  the  sage.  The  Wisdom  books 
are  monumental  of  the  tardy  recognition  of  the  truth 
that  men  can  arrive  at  the  happiness  for  which  they  seek 
in  no  other  way  than  by  an  intelligent  acquaintance  with 
the  laws  of  the  orderly  life  and  a  hearty  obedience  to 
them.  To  be  sure,  with  the  Jews  all  the  laws  of  life  were 
regarded  as  the  commandments  of  their  God,  and  they 
never  descended  to  mere  moralism.  At  times  their  reli- 
gious rationalism  takes  on  a  tone  of  sublime  contempla- 
tion, as  when  the  sage  turns  his  gaze  upon  the  wonders 
of  the  heavens  or,  again,  upon  the  equal  wonders  of  the 
human  heart:  "The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God, 
and  the  firmament  showeth  his  handiwork.  Day  unto 
day  uttereth  speech,  and  night  unto  night  showeth 
knowledge The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  restor- 
ing the  soul;  the  testimony  of  the  Lord  is  sure,  making 
wise  the  simple.  The  precepts  of  the  Lord  are  right, 
rejoicing  the  heart;    the  commandment  of  the  Lord  is 


124  What  Is  Christianity? 

pure,  enlightening  the  eyes."  To  such  men  as  this 
psalmist  the  world  without  and  the  world  within  answer 
to  each  other  and  together  they  utter  the  will  of  their 
God.  Sometimes,  as  in  portions  of  the  Proverbs,  this 
religious  rationalism  assumes  a  lower  tone.  The  wise 
man  may  be  wise  only  in  the  sense  of  having  a  shrewd 
appreciation  of  the  laws  of  the  orderly  life  because  he 
can  make  them  serve  his  self-interest.  Does  this  mark 
an  inherent  defect  in  rationalism — a  tendency  to  a 
narrow  moralism  ? 

The  traces  of  rationalism  in  the  New  Testament  are 
few  and  of  minor  importance.  The  appeal  to  the  natural 
human  judgment  is  not  wanting.  James  extols  the 
worth  of  genuine  morality  and  Paul  has  a  touch  of  natural 
theology:  "That  which  is  known  of  God  is  manifest  in 
men;  for  God  manifested  it  unto  them.  For  the  invis- 
ible things  of  him  from  the  creation  of  the  world  are 
clearly  seen,  being  perceived  through  the  things  that 
are  made."  But  the  overpowering  impression  of  the 
personality  of  Jesus,  the  tragedy  of  his  death,  the  triumph 
of  his  resurrection,  and  the  new  consciousness  of  power 
and  of  enlightenment  in  the  hearts  of  his  followers  over- 
shadowed all  else.  They  were  too  much  occupied  with 
the  impending  cataclysm  in  human  affairs  and  the  uni- 
verse to  give  themselves  to  the  problems  of  the  systematic 
thinker. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  the  attempt  was 
made  to  construe  in  a  rationalistic  manner  the  Christian 
revelation  itself  and  the  miracles  that  accompanied  it. 
As  the  gospel  spread  among  the  Graeco-Roman  peoples, 
it  attracted  to  it  men  of  sobriety  and  learning,  who  hailed 
the  Christian  message  with  joy  because  it  seemed  to  them 


Rationalism  125 

to  bring  back  to  life  and  vigor  again  those  fundamental 
principles  of  morality  that  had  been  obscured  or  lost 
amid  the  social  confusion  of  those  times.  The  old  philos- 
ophies had  failed  to  give  men  the  saving  truth.  Here 
was  a  new  philosophy  which  was  also  the  most  ancient, 
for  the  Scriptures  that  contained  it  came  from  the  earliest 
ages,  by  which  confidence  in  the  eternal  distinction  of 
right  from  wrong  and  in  the  eternal  consequences  of 
obedience  and  disobedience  might  be  restored.  They 
accepted  Christianity  as  the  revelation  of  the  true 
morality.  It  was  the  affirmation  of  the  true  morality 
because  it  was  the  announcement  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
true  God  by  him  who  came  from  God.  Holding  to  the 
philosophic  principle  of  the  Logos  (the  principle  of 
reason  immanent  in  God  and  active  in  man  and  the 
world),  they  said  that  the  teaching  of  Jesus  was  one  in 
substance  and  purport  with  the  expression  of  the  Logos. 
In  truth,  he  it  is  who  was  originally  the  Logos  of  God, 
who  became  personal  before  the  creation,  who  himself 
framed  the  world  and  the  rational  beings  in  it,  and  who 
at  length  "took  shape,  became  a  man,  and  was  called 
Jesus  Christ."  The  prophecies  that  foretold  his  coming 
and  his  acts  and  the  miracles  which  he  and  his  followers 
performed  attest  the  truth  of  his  teachings.  Chris- 
tianity, then,  is  essentially  the  true  teaching,  the  divine 
doctrine,  the  inculcation  of  "  the  excellences  which  reside 
in  him  [God],  temperance,  and  justice,  and  philanthropy, 
and  as  many  virtues  as  are  peculiar  to  a  God  who  is 
called  by  no  proper  name" — in  a  word,  moralism.  By 
our  concrete  rationality  we  are  able  to  receive  a  knowl- 
edge of  his  will:  "In  order  that  we  may  follow  those 
things  that  please  him,  choosing  them  by  means  of  the 


126  What  Is  Christianity? 

rational  faculties  he  has  himself  endowed  us  with,  he 
both  persuades  us  and  leads  us  to  faith."  And,  accord- 
ingly, "each  man  goes  to  everlasting  punishment  or 
salvation  according  to  the  value  of  his  actions." 

These  apologists  were  really  the  founders  of  formal 
Christian  theology.  They  tried  to  show  that  Christian 
faith  was  the  belief  and  practice  of  those  eternal  prin- 
ciples of  conduct  which  are  identical  in  character  and 
aim  with  that  rational  nature  which  is  found  in  man 
and  the  universe.  It  may  be  fairly  said,  therefore,  that 
the  formal  traditional  theology  began  with  a  type  of 
rationalism. 

This  early  rationalism  was  soon  overshadowed  by 
the  mystical  and  metaphysical  interpretation  of  the 
ancient  Catholic  theologians — not  without  a  struggle, 
however.  For  the  growing  orthodoxy  found  itself  con- 
fronted by  powerful  opponents,  conspicuous  among 
whom  were  Arius  and  Pelagius.  It  is  not  possible  here 
to  exhibit  the  debate  or  expound  the  positions  at  length. 
Arianism,  in  short,  stood  for  a  conservative  Logos  doc- 
trine. Its  logic  demanded  the  eternal  validity  of  the 
distinction  between  the  one  true  and  only  God  and  all 
else,  including  the  Logos,  the  only  begotten  Son.  If  the 
Son  was  begotten,  he  had  a  beginning  and  was  a  creation 
of  God.  In  the  incarnate  Christ  the  Logos  takes  the 
place  of  the  rational  human  spirit.  He  mediated  the 
revelation  of  God  to  men.  Arian  rationalism  attempted 
to  maintain  a  logical  view  of  the  relation  of  monotheism 
to  belief  in  the  revelation  given  to  men  in  Christ. 

Pelagianism  was  a  protest  against  the  Augustinian 
view  of  sin  and  grace  which  was  adopted  in  part  by 
Catholicism.     It  opposed  the  doctrine  of  original  sin, 


Rationalism  127 

bondage  of  the  will,  universal  human  depravity,  and 
absolute  dependence  on  grace  ministered  in  the  sacra- 
ments. God  is  good  and  so  also  is  man  fundamentally. 
Man  is  free  by  nature  and  remains  so.  If  he  sins,  it  is 
always  by  choice  and  not  by  necessity.  As  he  is  capable 
of  evil,  so  is  he  also  capable  of  good.  As  he  chooses  evil 
by  free  choice,  so  also  he  chooses  good  freely.  God's 
grace  assists  and  does  not  compel.  The  revelation  of 
Christ  enlightens  our  minds  as  truth  and  aids  our  will 
by  love.  Life  is  a  discipline  and  its  outcome  is  self- 
determined  and  deserved.  As  Arianism  attempted  a 
rational  view  of  the  relation  of  God  to  men  with  respect 
to  positive  religion,  Pelagianism  attempted  a  rational 
view  of  the  relation  of  God  to  men  with  respect  to  positive 
righteousness  or  goodness. 

The  darkness  that  fell  upon  Europe  in  the  ages 
between  the  decline  of  the  Roman  Empire  and  the  rise 
of  the  mediaeval  empire  began  to  pass  away  with  the 
institution  of  the  schools  of  Charlemagne  and  the  monks 
and  the  awakening  of  interest  in  the  ancient  life  of  the 
East  through  the  Crusades.  The  founding  of  the  great 
European  universities  dates  back  to  this  time.  The 
rescue  of  the  precious  documents  of  ancient  Greek  and 
Christian  lore  from  the  hand  of  the  marauding  Turk  and 
the  translation  of  them  into  the  vernacular  gave  to  the 
ecclesiastical  scholars  of  the  West  a  new  vision.  They 
became  acquainted  with  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle. 
The  scientific  and  philosophic  interest  was  aroused. 
Heretofore  the  saving  dogmas  of  the  Christian  faith  had 
been  received  with  the  same  docile  spirit  with  which 
men  had  received  the  ritual  of  the  church — on  authority. 
Why  not  strengthen  the  hold  of  the  dogmas  on  men's 


128  What  Is  Christianity? 

minds  by  giving  them  the  support  of  reason  ?  Why  not 
prove  that  what  is  true  by  the  authority  of  the  church 
is  also  true  by  the  authority  of  reason  ?  If  the  church 
and  reason  speak  with  one  voice,  who  can  dispute  their 
dogmas  ?  The  circumstances  of  the  time  threw  out  the 
challenge  and  there  was  at  least  a  show  of  accepting  it. 
Scholasticism,  the  philosophy  of  the  church  schools,  was 
an  attempt  to  rationalize  the  traditional  faith  by  the 
aid  of  Greek  philosophy. 

In  a  preceding  chapter  reference  was  made  to  a 
powerful  religious  movement  of  the  Middle  Ages  that 
flourished  outside  the  church  and  threatened  its  power. 
Here  is  a  parallel  movement  that  began  mainly  under 
ecclesiastical  control.  But  who  could  be  sure  that  it 
would  remain  there?  What  if  human  reason  and  a 
supposed  divine  authority  could  not  be  made  to  concur  ? 
What  if  they  should  turn  out  to  be  two  steeds  that  tend 
to  run  apart?  Then  the  rider  must  make  his  choice. 
So  it  was  with  the  scholastic  in  the  end.  The  enterprise 
was  undertaken  with  boldness  and  acclaim.  The  famous 
Anselm  offered  his  demonstration  of  the  necessary 
existence  of  God  and  proceeded  to  justify  also  the  dogma 
of  the  incarnation,  the  central  dogma  of  Catholicism, 
on  the  ground  of  rational  necessity.  Others  followed  in 
his  footsteps  until  the  great  Thomas  Aquinas  outlined 
a  whole  system  of  dogmas  rationally  grounded.  But 
doubt  was  also  stimulated.  The  keen  wit  of  Abelard 
exhibited  in  his  Sic  et  Non  ("Yes  and  No")  the  hopeless 
contradictions  in  the  Fathers  to  whose  authority  the 
church  had  deferred.  John  Duns  Scotus  showed  that 
reason  could  not  be  made  to  give  its  free  assent  to  the 
dogmas.     Gradually  the  failure  became  patent.    The 


Rationalism  1 29 

church  had  to  place  its  dogmas  on  a  height  inaccessible 
to  reason  in  order  to  save  them.  The  situation  in  the 
Catholic  church  is  virtually  the  same  at  this  present  time. 
Modernism  has  been  trying  in  vain  to  restore  to  human 
thinking  its  right,  but  without  success.  Roman  Catholic 
Christianity  is  the  Christianity  of  authoritative  dogmas 
that  defy  reason.  Rationalism  can  only  be  sporadic  in 
Catholicism. 

In  Protestantism  conditions  are  quite  different.  For 
the  Reformation  owed  its  birth,  in  part,  to  the  new  learn- 
ing. It  was  unable  to  live  without  a  recognition  of  the 
inexpugnable  rights  of  human  reason.  Its  friends  were 
able  to  defend  it  successfully  by  affirming  the  right  of 
the  individual  intelligence  to  interpret  the  will  of  God 
for  itself  and  by  virtue  of  its  inherent  worth.  The  right 
to  interpret  the  will  of  God  embraced  the  right  to  deter- 
mine what  is  the  will  of  God.  The  principle  of  rational 
criticism  in  its  whole  range  was  thereby  secured.  No 
matter  if  the  Reformation  theologians  sought  to  limit 
the  trustworthiness  of  reason  in  the  religious  realm  by 
means  of  the  doctrine  of  original  sin,  they  had  spoken 
the  word  that  could  not  be  withdrawn.  The  Reforma- 
tion was  a  struggle  for  intellectual  freedom  as  well  as 
for  moral  purity  and  religious  assurance.  Personal  faith 
and  personal  intelligence  were  wedded  in  the  soul  of  the 
Protestant  and  could  never  be  divorced  without  damage 
to  one  or  both  of  them. 

On  its  intellectual  side  the  Reformation  was  more 
than  a  declaration  of  the  right  to  freedom.  It  also  issued 
a  challenge  to  the  human  mind  to  carry  its  right  into 
execution.  The  whole  world  of  knowledge  was  thrown 
open  for  exploration.    A  mighty  stimulus  was  given  to 


130  What  Is  Christianity? 

investigation  in  all  directions.  Many  there  were  who 
gladly  accepted  the  challenge.  All  truth  was  to  be 
man's.  But  there  was  little  preparation  or  mental 
equipment  for  the  great  task.  It  was  one  thing  to 
declare  that  we  can  know  and  quite  another  thing  to 
explain  the  steps  by  which  we  get  possession  of  the  facts 
of  the  universe  or  to  vindicate  the  trustworthiness  of 
the  knowing  process  by  exhibiting  its  constituent  factors. 
As  soon  as  the  vastness  of  the  regions  waiting  to  be 
explored  began  to  dawn  on  men's  minds  it  was  inevitable 
that  a  period  of  uncertainty  and  skepticism  should 
supervene  upon  the  glorious  feeling  of  exaltation  and 
relief  that  came  with  the  Reformation. 

The  coming  of  a  period  of  doubt  was  hastened  and  its 
character  aggravated  by  the  hastiness  of  the  Protestant 
theologians  in  laying  down  statements  of  the  essential 
doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith.  Driven  by  the  exi- 
gencies of  ecclesiastical  and  political  strife,  they  took 
a  short  cut  to  a  settlement  of  questions  of  religious  con- 
troversy. Answers  to  the  profoundest  questions  that 
the  human  soul  can  ask  were  prescribed  and  enforced. 
Their  doctrines  were  not  meant  to  be  provisional  hypoth- 
eses or  temporary  aids  to  conduct,  but  authoritative 
declarations  of  divine  truth.  To  the  question,  How 
were  these  truths  communicated  to  man  ?  the  answer 
was,  By  revelation.  To  the  question,  Where  is  this 
revelation  to  be  found  ?  the  answer  was,  In  the  Bible. 
And  to  the  question,  How  do  we  know  that  the  professed 
revelation  is  real  ?  the  answer  of  the  ancient  apologists 
was  given,  By  the  evidence  of  miracles,  including  proph- 
ecy. The  last  answer  directed  attention  to  a  rational 
test,  namely,  the  discovery,  sifting,  and  weighing  of 


Rationalism  131 

evidence,  and  it  prepared  the  way  for  the  undermining 
of  the  whole  structure. 

It  was  not  possible  for  Protestants  to  follow  the 
Catholic  example  by  falling  back  on  institutional  author- 
ity. That  door  they  had  closed  to  themselves.  The 
problem  of  knowledge,  when  once  accepted,  had  to  be 
worked  out.  The  repeated  efforts  to  define  and  redefine 
their  doctrines  so  as  to  remove  stumblingblocks  to 
reason  prove  that  the  insistence  of  the  demands  of  reason 
was  felt.  The  failure  of  Protestant  persecution  to  sup- 
press doubt  showed  that  there  was  no  escaping  the  issues. 
Reason  must  be  satisfied  if  faith  is  to  live  and  triumph. 
This  is  a  categorical  imperative  of  the  Protestant  reli- 
gious mind.  Consequently  we  find,  as  we  might  have 
expected  to  find,  in  Protestant  history  the  continual 
reappearing  of  rationalistic  movements  that  sought, 
when  faith  and  reason  could  not  be  made  to  speak  in 
unison  or  in  harmony,  to  subordinate  faith  to  reason 
and  to  limit  religion  to  the  domain  prescribed  for  her 
by  the  logical  understanding.  It  is  not  possible  to 
sketch  in  the  present  connection  the  various  types  of 
rationalism  that  have  appeared  in  the  history  of  Prot- 
estantism. Our  references  will  be  confined  to  those 
forms  of  rationalism  that  serve  best  to  exhibit  its  general 
character. 

2.      THE  PRINCIPLES  AND  DOGMAS   OF   RATIONALISM 

The  vast  range  of  the  rationalistic  movement  and 
the  great  number  of  the  works  of  its  noted  representatives 
have  given  rationalism  an  exceedingly  respectable  place 
in  the  constitution  of  the  modern  Protestant  religious 
mind.    We  shall  now  attempt  to  present  an  analysis 


132  What  Is  Christianity? 

and  brief  exposition  of  its  fundamental  views  by  review- 
ing the  positions  of  some  of  its  representative  thinkers. 
We  shall  consider  first  the  Socinians.  Laelius  and 
Faustus  Socinus,  uncle  and  nephew,  came  directly  under 
the  influence  of  Calvin,  the  first  of  the  two  being  an 
intimate  friend  of  the  great  theologian.  Intellectually 
they  were  of  the  same  type  as  he,  as  keen  and  relentless 
as  he  in  their  logic.  They  followed  him  in  his  idea  of  a 
revelation  of  God  given  to  the  reason  of  man  through 
nature  and  also  in  his  rational  demonstration  of  the 
authority  of  Scripture,  but  significantly  passed  by  that 
"secret  testimony  of  the  Spirit"  to  which  he  finally 
appealed.  Like  him,  they  viewed  the  Scriptures  as  a 
divinely  given  lawbook,  but,  unlike  him,  they  distin- 
guished thoroughly  the  New  Testament  from  the  Old 
Testament  as  the  authority  for  Christian  doctrine  and, 
unlike  him  again,  they  found  no  place  in  the  Scriptures 
for  the  great  pillars  of  orthodox  theology,  the  Trinity, 
the  absolute  deity  of  Christ,  original  sin,  bondage  of  the 
will,  foreordination,  or  atonement  by  penal  substitution. 
To  them  the  Christian  religion  was  "the  way  of  attain- 
ing to  eternal  life,"  that  is,  "the  method  of  serving  God 
which  he  has  himself  delivered  through  Jesus  Christ." 
In  short,  Christianity  was  the  revelation  of  the  supreme 
law  of  life  by  obeying  which  men  should  be  saved,  a 
system  of  morality.  The  significant  thing  in  Socinian- 
ism  was  not,  however,  the  specific  doctrines  they  held, 
but  the  ultimate  basis  for  believing  these  doctrines. 
This,  in  short,  they  called  "right  reason."  They  said, 
"Without  it  we  could  neither  perceive  with  certainty  the 
authority  of  the  sacred  writings,  understand  their  con- 
tents, discriminate  one  thing  from  another,  nor  apply 


Rationalism  133 

them  to  any  practical  purpose."  Nothing  was  to  be 
received  "  which  is  repugnant  to  the  written  word  of 
God,  or  to  sound  reason."  In  the  end,  the  Scriptures  are 
to  be  believed  because  of  their  rationality.  It  mattered 
little,  then,  what  particular  doctrines  they  accepted  or 
rejected,  and  it  mattered  little  that  their  exegesis  was 
often  more  accurate  than  the  orthodox  exegesis  or  that 
sometimes  it  was  warped  by  their  preferences,  so  long 
as  the  determinative  factor  in  all  religion  was  just  this: 
that  which  it  is  rational  to  believe.  Christianity  was 
true  because  it  was  rational.  Its  teachings  commended 
themselves  to  the  human  judgment  and  produced  the 
" proper  effects,"  that  is,  "a  suitable  and  exemplary 
conduct."  Christianity  was  practically  a  system  of 
morality  based  on  right  reason. 

The  Socinians  might  be  put  down  by  force,  but  the 
leaven  was  working.  When  Hugo  Grotius,  the  great 
Dutch  jurist,  attempted  to  vindicate  the  Protestant 
view  of  the  atonement  against  them,  he  failed  to  hold  to 
the  strict  orthodox  teaching  and  himself  fell  back  on  a 
system  of  natural  human  law  found  in  the  laws  of  nations; 
he  made  that  the  basis  of  a  theory  of  atonement,  which 
he  represented  as  a  manifestation  of  rectoral  or  govern- 
mental justice,  that  is,  such  a  kind  of  justice  as  appeals 
to  the  moral  reason  of  humanity.  Almost  a  generation 
before  him,  James  Arminius,  the  famous  theologian  of 
Amsterdam,  made  his  plea  for  a  milder  view  of  predes- 
tination in  order  to  secure  recognition  of  the  worth  of 
the  human  will  and  its  freedom.  The  spirit  was  infec- 
tious. Other  Dutch  thinkers  tried  to  mediate  between 
opposing  schools  of  theology  by  seeking  to  formulate 
the  views  held  by  Christians  in  common  as  the  essential 


134  What  Is  Christianity? 

Christian  doctrines,  all  else  being  secondary.  But  how 
was  this  to  be  settled  unless  by  the  judgment  of  man  ? 
And  this  amounted  to  only  an  inkling  of  what  was  com- 
ing. Orthodoxy  soon  found  itself  fighting  for  its  life, 
not  against  protests  here  or  there,  but  against  a  great 
body  of  thought  that  seemed,  at  least,  to  be  scientifically 
and  philosophically  grounded. 

There  were  two  great  parallel  movements  of  thought 
that  held  the  attention  of  Europe  for  the  greater  part 
of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  The  one 
was  inaugurated  in  England  by  Bacon  and  Locke  and 
culminated  in  the  philosophic  skepticism  of  Hume  on 
the  one  hand  and  the  philosophic  faith  of  Butler  on  the 
other  hand.  The  other  movement  was  inaugurated  on 
the  Continent  by  Descartes  and,  passing  through  the 
crucible  of  Kant's  Critique,  issued  in  the  Hegelian  logic. 
The  one  was  animated  by  the  spirit  of  critical  inquiry, 
the  other  by  the  spirit  of  speculation.  Both  were 
grounded  in  the  Protestant  confidence  in  the  power  of 
the  human  mind  to  know  reality. 

Bacon  and  Locke  were  most  deeply  concerned  with 
moral  and  religious  aims,  and  attempted  the  discovery 
of  the  relations  between  God,  man,  and  nature,  in  order 
to  the  fulfilment  of  the  duties  of  life.  With  this  end  in 
view  both  sought  to  formulate  a  method  of  knowledge 
— the  one  by  allowing  external  nature  to  speak  to  the 
human  mind  through  her  facts  independently  of  all 
philosophical  presuppositions  or  personal  preferences, 
the  other  by  a  similar  observation  of  the  facts  of  inner 
experience.  Both  inaugurated  movements  that  have 
continued  to  the  present,  and  both  arrived  at  a  natural 
theology  and  sought  to  retain  their  traditional  respect 


Rationalism  135 

for  revealed  Christianity  by  maintaining  a  distinction 
between  natural  theology  and  supernatural  theology, 
or  revelation.  But  the  followers  of  both  carried  their 
principles  to  conclusions  that  would  have  alarmed  them. 
Men  ever  seek  a  unitary  foundation  for  their  faith  and 
choose  that  which  impresses  them  the  most. 

The  great  achievements  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  in  his 
scientific  study  of  the  laws  of  nature  gave  an  immense 
impetus  to  the  desire  to  wrest  from  the  objective  uni- 
verse a  disclosure  of  the  character  of  that  Being  from 
whose  hand  she  came  and  of  the  relation  in  which  he  has 
willed  that  man  should  stand  to  himself.  Such  a  doc- 
trine would  constitute  a  religion  trustworthy,  dignified, 
and  permanent,  in  contrast  with  the  vagaries,  super- 
stitions, and  absurdities  so  characteristic  of  traditional 
faiths.  Such  a  religion  could  not  be  dependent  on  those 
external  and  extraordinary  occurrences  which  men  call 
miracles  or  special  revelations,  or,  if  men  still  held  to 
such  special  revelations,  these  must  be  brought  into 
conformity  with  nature's  universal  "  revelation. "  This 
religion  of  nature  comes  to  noble  utterance  in  Addison's 
great  hymn,  the  first  and  last  stanzas  of  which  are  here 

quoted : 

The  spacious  firmament  on  high 
With  all  the  blue  ethereal  sky 
And  spangled  heavens,  a  shining  frame, 
Their  great  Original  proclaim. 

In  reason's  ear  they  all  rejoice 
And  utter  forth  a  glorious  voice, 
Forever  singing,  as  they  shine, 
"The  hand  that  made  us  is  divine." 

Locke  made  out  by  his  method  of  psychical  intro- 
spection that  the  whole  body  of  our  knowledge  arises 


136  What  Is  Christianity? 

from  sensation  and  reflection  and  by  the  combinations 
we  make  of  the  ideas  received  in  this  way,  and  that  it  is 
not  in  any  degree  dependent  on  the  falsely  imagined 
"  innate  ideas  "  that  are  not  subject  to  test  or  proof.  The 
result  is  on  the  one  hand  the  dependence  of  the  mind 
for  its  ideas  of  God  upon  the  impressions  which  the 
external  world  makes  on  our  senses,  and  on  the  other 
hand  a  logical  repudiation  of  miracles  and  reputed  special 
revelations.  The  canons  of  the  rational  intelligence 
again  become  the  touchstone  of  all  professed  revelations. 
Like  Bacon,  he  sought  to  guard  his  followers  against  a 
rejection  of  Christianity  by  distinguishing  between 
reason  and  faith.  The  former  gives  rational,  funda- 
mental truths;  the  latter  supplies  super-rational  truths 
to  be  received  by  faith.  He  regarded  Christianity  as 
embracing  truths  of  the  latter  kind  and  wrote  a  work 
entitled  The  Reasonableness  of  Christianity  as  Delivered 
in  the  Scriptures;  but  his  "  Christianity"  was  an  original, 
simple,  rational  faith  whose  revelations  stood  the  test 
of  reason.  I  quote  his  own  words  setting  forth  his  views 
of  the  relation  of  this  revelation  to  reason: 

Reason  is  natural  revelation,  whereby  the  eternal  Father  of 
light  and  Fountain  of  all  knowledge  communicates  to  all  mankind 
that  portion  of  truth  which  he  has  laid  within  reach  of  their 
natural  faculties;  revelation  is  natural  reason  enlarged  by  a  new 
set  of  discoveries  communicated  by  God  immediately,  which  reason 
vouches  the  truth  of,  by  the  testimony  and  proofs  it  gives  that 
they  come  from  God. 

The  principles  of  Bacon  and  Locke  carried  the  major- 
ity of  religious  thinkers  along  with  them.  But  a  cleavage 
soon  appeared.  On  the  one  side  were  those  who  sought 
to  carry  these  principles  to  the  logical  conclusion  by  a 
rejection  of  all  special  revelation,  and  on  the  other  side 


Rationalism  137 

were  those  whose  affection  for  the  traditional  faith  led 
them  to  try  to  maintain,  with  Bacon  and  Locke,  a  faith 
in  special  revelation  as  seen  in  certain  Christian  doctrines. 
Both  believed  in  the  primacy  of  natural  theology  or 
rational  religion,  and  both,  for  a  time  at  least,  claimed 
to  be  Christian;  but  they  differed  as  to  the  quantum 
of  doctrine  that  is  to  be  regarded  as  fundamentally 
Christian.  The  one  side  naturally  attacked  the  miracles 
and  the  other  side  defended  them  as  the  stronghold  of 
orthodoxy.  The  story  of  the  progress  of  the  criticism 
of  the  Christian  Scripture  need  not  delay  us  here.  The 
stress  of  controversy  drove  the  first  class  (who  came  to 
be  known  as  Deists)  toward  a  rejection  of  all  belief  in  a 
religion  of  fellowship  with  God,  while  it  drove  the  others 
to  acknowledge,  as  Butler  did,  that  Christianity  is  "a 
republication  of  the  religion  of  nature,"  necessitated 
through  the  darkness  caused  by  sin,  plus  certain  other 
doctrines  which  were  necessary  in  order  to  meet  the 
needs  of  sinners.     Both  were  rationalists  at  heart. 

The  parallel  movement  on  the  Continent  began  with 
Descartes'  Cogito,  ergo  sum.  Proceeding  by  eliminating, 
first  of  all,  everything  that  could  be  doubted,  he  found 
at  last  a  limit  to  the  possibility  of  doubt  in  the  very  laws 
of  thought.  Then  he  proceeded  to  find  in  thought  the 
determination  of  the  laws  of  real  existence.  That  which 
is  necessary  to  thought  necessarily  is.  Arguing  from 
the  necessary  connection  between  cause  and  effect,  he 
posited  God  as  the  ultimate  and  only  real  cause  or  sub- 
stance. From  this  substance  flow  the  secondary  sub- 
stances of  mind  and  body  or  thought  and  matter,  whose 
phenomena  correspond  to  each  other.  This  makes  our 
knowledge  real    Spinoza  carried   Descartes'   position 


138  What  Is  Christianity? 

farther  and  by  the  same  necessity  of  thought  predicated 
the  one  only,  infinite,  self-existent  substance,  which  is 
God.  By  immanent  necessity  it  expresses  itself  in  two 
secondary  substances,  thought  and  extension,  which  are 
only  two  out  of  the  infinite  number  of  the  divine  attri- 
butes. Finite  things  are  only  temporary  modes  of  the 
divine  self-expression,  and  by  the  same  necessity  by 
which  they  flow  from  God  they  return  to  God  again. 
The  whole  world  becomes  the  expression  of  the  divine 
perfection  or  goodness.  When  Hegel  at  a  much  later 
date  sought  to  unfold  a  philosophy  of  religion,  of  his- 
tory, and  of  all  existence  by  the  immanent  necessity  of 
thought,  he  was  repeating  Spinoza's  achievement,  though 
in  a  different  way.  He  was  developing  the  premises  of 
rationalism  to  their  inevitable  conclusion.  The  whole 
of  religion  is  dominated  by  the  authority  of  the  Idea. 
The  Christian  verities  are  transmuted  into  a  system  of 
logical  concepts  evolved  by  the  inner  necessity  of 
thought. 

Between  these  two  great  thinkers  there  occurred  a 
large  number  of  less  pretentious  efforts  to  reduce  the 
truths  of  the  Christian  religion  to  the  terms  of  clear 
thinking.  It  was  hoped  to  vindicate  belief  in  the  chief 
Christian  doctrines  by  expounding  them  in  the  terms 
of  the  popular  philosophy.  It  was  the  age  of  the  En- 
lightenment. Clearness  is  the  test  and  certificate  of 
truth.  Obscurity,  confusion,  is  falsehood  or  error.  All 
in  Christianity  that  did  not  correspond  with  the  current 
doctrine  of  the  world  was  explained  away  or  regarded 
as  not  essentially  Christian.  The  Scriptures  were  sub- 
jected to  a  criticism  like  that  which  was  in  vogue  in 
England,    Revelation  was  identical  in  its  essence  with  the 


Rationalism  139 

impartation  of  true  knowledge.     The  language  of  Lessing 
in  his  Education  of  the  Human  Race  is  pertinent  here: 

That  which  is  education  as  respects  the  individual  is  revela- 
tion as  respects  the  race.  Education  is  revelation  imparted  to 
the  individual  and  revelation  is  education  which  has  been  and  is 
still  being  imparted  to  the  human  race.  Education  gives  the  man 
nothing  which  he  could  not  also  have  of  himself;  only  it  gives  more 
quickly  and  more  easily  that  which  he  could  have  of  himself. 
Similarly,  revelation  gives  the  human  race  nothing  whereunto 
human  reason,  if  left  to  itself,  could  not  also  attain,  but  gave  and 
gives  to  it  the  most  important  of  these  things,  only  earlier. 

The  rationalism  of  the  Continent  agreed  with  the 
rationalism  of  England  in  reducing  the  essential  doctrines 
of  Christianity  to  the  outlines  of  a  " natural  religion"  or 
"rational  theology."  As  the  Deists  of  England  made 
Christianity  equivalent  to  a  belief  in  the  existence  of  a 
supreme  rational  Being  whose  will  man  must  obey,  the 
terms  of  a  moral  law  in  accord  with  " nature,"  with  its 
rewards  and  punishments,  and  the  certainty  of  a  future 
life,  so  Kant  enunciated  for  Continental  rationalism  the 
doctrines  of  essential  religion  (Christianity)  to  which  all 
other  doctrines  of  religion  are  reducible.  They  are  the 
three  great  postulates  of  the  practical  reason:  God, 
freedom,  and  immortality. 

Briefly,  then,  the  position  of  modern  Christian 
rationalism  may  be  stated  as  follows:  It  is  built  upon 
the  foundations  of  the  orthodox  Protestant  apologetics. 
Christianity  is  to  be  believed  because  it  is  true.  Its 
truth  is  its  doctrines.  Doctrines  are  products  of  thought. 
All  true  thinking  corresponds  with  the  laws  of  the  uni- 
verse, which  have  the  same  source.  Those  doctrines  of 
religion  are  alone  true  that  are  consistent  with  the  truths 
of  reason  or  right  thinking.     The  illogical  is  the  false. 


140  What  Is  Christianity? 

True  Christianity,  then,  is  identical  with  a  rational  faith. 
All  those  features  of  traditional  Christianity  which  con- 
flict with  nature's  laws  are  only  adventitious  and  are 
to  be  set  aside  as  nonessential.  All  the  duties  which  a 
true  Christianity  enjoins  are  such  duties  as  arise  from  a 
rational  interpretation  of  man's  relation  to  the  laws  of 
nature  which  are  the  laws  of  God — Christianity  is 
natural  morality.  The  great  edifice  of  traditional  dog- 
mas, sacraments,  and  institutions  crumbles,  and  instead 
we  have  the  simple  faith  that  holds  the  existence  of  an 
infinite  God,  the  eternal  validity  of  the  moral  law,  reward 
and  punishment  for  obedience,  and  a  life  beyond  the 
grave  where  these  are  given. 

3.      A  BRIEF  ESTIMATE   OF  CHRISTIAN  RATIONALISM 

We  shall  first  estimate  it  in  relation  to  the  rival  inter- 
pretations of  Christianity  already  expounded. 

1.  As  against  Apocalypticism:  While  Apocalyp- 
ticism is  highly  emotional  and  appeals  strongly  to  the 
imagination  of  the  common  man  with  its  preference  for 
the  picturesque  and  the  tragical,  rationalism  is  reflective, 
eschews  the  extraordinary  and  the  inexplicable,  and  tends 
to  reduce  everything  to  the  level  of  the  common  and  the 
orderly.  Apocalypticism  makes  much  of  inspiration  and 
revelation,  while  rationalism  holds  to  the  superior  value 
of  the  normal  action  of  intelligence  and  "reason." 
Apocalypticism  appeals  to  the  supernatural  as  the  extra- 
and  even  the  contra-natural;  rationalism  regards  the 
natural  as  the  fundamental  and  the  true.  Apocalyp- 
ticism is  pessimistic  as  to  the  physical  universe  and  the 
ordinary  course  of  human  affairs,  but  rationalism  is 
optimistic  in  regard  to  nature  and  exalts  the  value  of 


Rationalism  141 

natural  morality  as  against  a  derogatory  view  of  the 
natural  man.  Apocalypticism  represents  the  faith  of 
the  downtrodden,  the  suffering,  the  baffled  and  beaten 
ones  of  our  world  whose  only  hope  for  victory  over 
opposing  powers  lies  in  the  intervention  of  almighty 
God;  it  is  an  application  of  this  hope  to  the  Christian 
faith  in  Jesus ;  but  rationalism  is  the  faith  of  those  who 
have  found  the  world  a  comfortable  place  to  live  in. 

2.  As  against  Catholicism:  While  Catholicism  is 
institutional,  proclaims  a  universal  external  order,  and 
rests  its  faith  on  official  authority,  rationalism  is  indi- 
vidualistic, tends  to  liberate  men  from  institutional 
control,  and  is  wanting  in  the  power  to  create  a  firm 
bond  of  community  life.  While  Catholicism,  as  re- 
spects its  inner  life,  is  emotional,  loves  the  sensuous, 
the  mysterious,  and  the  symbolical,  but  is  intellec- 
tually indifferent,  rationalism  is  intellectual,  plain,  and 
matter-of-fact,  and  loves  knowledge  for  its  own  sake. 
While  the  morality  of  Catholicism  is  ascetical,  the  moral- 
ity of  rationalism  consists  in  loyalty  to  the  dictates  of 
the  common  conscience — the  morality  of  "common 
sense."  In  short,  while  Catholic  Christianity  is  a  reli- 
gion of  devotion  to  visions  of  another  world  beyond  the 
present,  rationalistic  Christianity  is  devoted  to  the  task 
of  making  the  present  world  better. 

3.  As  against  mysticism:  While  both  mysticism  and 
rationalism  seek  for  the  simple  essence  of  the  Christian 
faith  and  endeavor  to  eliminate  all  adventitious  forms 
or  foreign  accretions  from  whatever  source,  they  are  to 
be  contrasted  in  that  mysticism  seeks  its  end  in  the  realm 
of  feeling,  but  rationalism  in  the  realm  of  thought. 
Mysticism  is  receptive,  almost  passive,  finds  its  good 


142  What  Is  Christianity? 

by  the  way  of  contemplation,  and  discovers  the  One  and 
All  by  abandonment  of  the  many;  rationalism  is  intel- 
lectually active,  inquisitive,  analytical  in  temper,  and 
finds  the  solution  of  its  problems  in  a  scientific  study  of 
the  many.  Mysticism  is  an  aristocratic  faith,  while 
rationalism  is,  professedly  at  least,  democratic.  Mys- 
ticism tends  toward  a  pessimistic  view  of  the  prospects 
of  the  human  multitudes,  rationalism  toward  an  opti- 
mistic view. 

4.  As  against  Protestantism:  Rationalism  is  Prot- 
estantism disrobed  of  its  confidence  in  the  accuracy  of 
those  marvelous  traditions  in  which  it  trusted  to  have 
found  its  life.  It  is  Protestantism  shorn  of  its  elaborate 
scheme  of  doctrines  in  exposition  of  a  theory  of  divine 
government.  It  is  Protestant  intelligence,  self-conscious, 
clear,  and  acute,  disconnected  with  the  yearning  of 
Protestantism  for  a  deeper  sense  of  what  it  loved  to  call 
the  grace  of  God  and  its  sense  of  the  value  of  a  human 
soul.  It  is  Protestant  doctrinalism  without  the  Prot- 
estant devout  feeling  of  being  the  subject  of  a  divine 
revelation.  At  the  same  time  rationalism  is  Protestant- 
ism become  intensely  conscientious  as  respects  its  intel- 
lectual processes,  made  more  sympathetic  toward  all 
seekers  of  truth,  and  made  more  fully  aware  that  the 
world  in  which  it  lives  here  and  now  is  a  well-ordered 
and  beneficent  world.  It  is  Protestantism  freed  from 
that  dread  of  science  which  was  the  baneful  inheritance 
received  from  Catholicism. 

In  the  next  place,  rationalism  is  to  be  judged  in  its 
own  right  apart  from  these  other  types  of  professed 
Christianity.  A  few  suggestions  only  can  be  offered  in 
this  article.     Rationalism  has  the  merit  of  insisting  that 


Rationalism  143 

the  universe  is  a  unit — this  world  and  the  next,  earth  and 
heaven,  are  inseparable  and  are  governed  by  the  same 
laws.  The  truly  moral  life  is  truly  natural  to  man,  and 
the  most  truly  natural  is  the  only  supernatural.  The 
whole  universe  is  as  sacred  as  any  part  of  it.  Religion 
and  morality  are  ultimately  one.  The  universe  is  a 
field  of  moral  discipline,  and  science  is  a  product  of  the 
moral  imperative.  If  Christianity  is  true,  it  must  be 
true  to  the  universe. 

But  rationalism  as  a  type  of  Christian  theory  is 
dependent  on  those  historical  forms  of  Christianity 
which  it  criticizes.  It  is  critical  rather  than  creative. 
It  bases  its  interpretation  of  Christianity  on  assumptions 
derived  from  speculation  and  not  from  the  Christian 
traditions.  Hence  these  traditions  are  a  problem  rather 
than  a  source  of  comfort.  Rationalism  is  accurate  in 
aim,  but  is  cold  and  forbidding  to  the  tempted  and  tried. 
It  may  be  free  from  hallucinations,  but  it  lacks  inspira- 
tion. It  may  be  free  from  fanaticism,  but  it  is  lacking 
in  the  spirit  of  religious  enterprise.  While  it  seeks  to 
satisfy  the  demands  of  intelligence  it  cannot  arouse  deep 
emotion  or  enthusiasm  in  the  masses.  It  is  ultimately 
aristocratic. 


CHAPTER  VI 

EVANGELICISM  OR  MODERNIZED  PROTESTANT 
CHRISTIANITY 

The  term  "  evangelicism "  is  here  used  to  designate 
the  character  of  a  development  of  the  Christian  religion 
which  is  distinctly  modern  but  which  has  roots  reaching 
far  back  into  the  past.  It  is  not  meant  thereby  that  a 
new  religious  denomination  has  arisen  or  that  even  a 
new  school  of  thought  deserves  a  name  for  itself.  We 
do  not  seem  to  be  suffering  particularly  from  a  dearth  of 
organizations  or  new  theories.  But  recent  times  have 
witnessed  the  emergence  of  a  new  type  of  Christian  life 
and  thought  which  seems  to  be  so  charged  with  a  message 
of  good  to  the  world  that  a  term  which  carries  with  it  the 
idea  of  loyalty  to  such  a  message  may  be  fitly  applied 
to  it.  The  aim  of  the  present  article  is  to  trace  the  influ- 
ences formative  of  it  and  to  indicate  its  main  features. 

I.      SOME  CONSTRUCTIVE  RELIGIOUS  FORCES  IN  MODERN 
CHRISTIANITY 

The  period  of  the  ecclesiastico-political  revolution  we 
call  the  Protestant  Reformation  virtually  came  to  a  close 
with  the  execution  of  King  Charles  the  First  of  England 
and  the  signing  of  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  about  two 
hundred  and  seventy  years  ago.  With  the  cessation 
of  the  "wars  of  religion"  and  the  reaction  against 
intolerance  and  violence,  there  ensued  a  period  of  indiffer- 
ence and  general  skepticism  lasting  about  a  century 

144 


Evangelicism  145 

more.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  there  were  fertile 
oases  here  and  there  amid  the  general  dearth,  religious 
faith  suffered  from  widespread  sterility.  Then,  suddenly 
and  unexpectedly,  there  came  a  change.  The  principal 
factors  contributing  to  it  are  worthy  of  special  mention. 
First  in  the  order  of  merit  is  the  eighteenth-century 
religious  revival  in  America  and  Britain.  In  those  try- 
ing days,  when  men  were  shaking  themselves  clear  of 
the  external  forms  of  ritual  or  order  or  doctrine  which 
earlier  ages  had  supposed  to  be  necessary  to  salvation, 
there  were  many  faithful  men  who  labored  in  quiet  and 
obscurity  to  keep  the  smoldering  fire  of  faith  from  going 
out.  To  them  must  be  traced  the  revival  of  the  con- 
sciousness of  an  indisputable  personal  participation  in 
the  higher  moral  and  religious  life  apart  from  outward 
forms,  but  it  was  not  until  men  like  Jonathan  Edwards, 
George  Whitefield,  and  John  Wesley  brought  to  it  the 
needed  zeal,  intelligence,  and  skill  united  that  it  burst 
into  a  fiery  flame.  There  came  an  outbreak  of  religious 
feeling  that  defied  the  intellectual  canons  of  rationalism 
and  of  orthodoxy  alike  and  swept  on  through  the  whole 
Anglo-Saxon  world  with  irresistible  force.  As  all  great 
revivals,  it  gained  its  first  impetus  by  winning  the  hearts 
of  the  working  people,  the  poor,  the  neglected,  and  the 
defeated,  but,  despite  scoffing  and  ridicule,  it  gradually 
conquered  the  respect  of  the  prosperous  and  intelligent. 
Instead  of  wasting  away  in  emotionalism,  the  revival, 
under  the  statesmanlike  leadership  of  Wesley  and  his 
faithful  coadjutors  in  various  communions,  kept  adding 
to  its  initial  impulse  and  became  a  permanent  force  of 
great  importance  in  modern  Protestantism.  Since  those 
earlier  days  of  revivalism  there  have  been  considerable 


146  What  Is  Christianity? 

intervals  of  dearth,  and  sometimes  it  has  degenerated 
into  selfish  professionalism  or  hypocritical  sentimental- 
ism,  but  the  yearning  for  the  conversion  of  men  from 
their  sins  and  the  effort  to  better  their  whole  condition 
by  the  ministries  of  religion  continue  unabated. 

The  revival  was  characterized  by  the  union  of  deep 
feeling  with  moral  resolution.  There  was  a  return  of 
Puritanism  on  its  moral  side.  The  danger  of  fanaticism 
was  balanced  by  the  insistence  on  inner  and  outer  purity 
of  life.  For  the  " judicial  righteousness"  of  earlier 
Calvinism  was  substituted  the  actual  righteousness  of 
positive  personal  goodness.  If  the  preachers  in  their 
denunciation  of  sins  condemned  sometimes  the  innocent 
with  the  guilty,  they  succeeded  at  least  in  rousing  the 
consciences  of  men  to  action  and  doomed  to  death  the 
antinomianism  that  had  been  eating  out  the  heart  of 
orthodoxy.  Personal  purity  was  a  demand  for  the 
present  life  and  was  not  to  be  postponed  to  the  day  of 
the  soul's  separation  from  the  body.  This  is  probably 
the  import  of  John  Wesley's  doctrine  of  Christian  per- 
fection or  perfect  love  in  this  life.  The  Christian  salva- 
tion was  to  be  a  present  reality,  the  conscious  possession 
of  an  enlightened  heart. 

The  spirit  of  philanthropy  was  quickened  and 
broadened.  The  great  public  wrongs  under  which  men 
were  suffering  began  to  call  loudly  for  remedy.  John 
Howard's  crusade  on  behalf  of  the  prisoners  in  the  jails 
of  Europe,  efforts  for  the  improvement  of  the  criminal 
law  in  the  direction  of  equity  and  humanity  in  penalties, 
the  extinction  of  the  slave  trade,  intervention  on  behalf 
of  the  " factory  hands,"  the  fight  against  the  evils  of 
strong  drink,  were  all  in  part  fruits  of  the  revival.     Not- 


Evangelicism  147 

withstanding  the  emphasis  placed  on  the  hope  of  heaven, 
men  were  evidently  learning  the  worth  of  the  earthly 
life  as  the  sphere  for  the  realization  of  the  heavenly.  A 
Protestant  principle  that  had  been  half  forgotten  in  the 
controversies  and  persecutions  of  earlier  days  was  com- 
ing to  vigorous  renewal,  namely,  the  unspeakable  worth 
of  the  man. 

The  progress  of  the  revival  was  sustained  throughout 
by  the  conviction  that  religion  has  its  home  in  the  soul  of 
the  individual.  Its  value  and  its  truth  are  self-attesting, 
for  God  speaks  to  man  directly.  This  was  but  a  renewal 
of  the  Protestant  view  expressed  in  the  oft-quoted 
affirmation  of  Calvin  that  the  truth  of  God's  word  was 
certified  to  men  by  "the  secret  testimony  of  the  Spirit." 
Only  it  was  universalized.  Every  man  was  competent 
to  enjoy  this  immediate  certainty.  The  center  of 
gravity  in  religion  was  shifted  from  objective  facts, 
doctrines,  or  rites  to  the  inner  life — faith.  Experience  is 
the  ultimate  fact  in  the  life  of  religion.  Men  who  had 
"the  witness  of  the  Spirit"  that  they  were  forgiven, 
renewed,  saved,  possessed  a  basis  of  certainty  that  made 
the  Calvinist  doctrines  of  election  and  predestination 
unnecessary  for  many  people  and  even  a  stumbling-block 
to  the  free  personal  faith  of  others.  For  when  the  com- 
mon man  gains  a  "heart  conviction"  of  the  favor  of 
God,  he  becomes  independent  of  the  artificial  supports  of 
fixed  systems  of  any  kind  and  resents  their  interference 
with  his  liberty. 

The  tide  of  feeling  swept  over  ecclesiastical  and 
doctrinal  bounds.  In  the  long  run  it  mattered  little 
that  John  Wesley,  a  faithful  priest  of  the  Church  of 
England,  strove  to  keep  his  "societies"  within  the  order 


148  What  Is  Christianity? 

established  by  law.  His  followers  swung  loose  and 
organized  the  various  Methodist  " churches."  It  mat- 
tered little  that  he  and  Whitefield,  with  their  followers, 
split  on  issues  between  Calvinists  and  Arminians.  For 
both  sides  shared  alike  in  the  movement  of  grace,  and 
after  a  time  it  became  plain  that  the  controversies 
between  them  were  mostly  side  issues.  All  existing 
Protestant  bodies  shared  the  blessing,  and  new  denom- 
inations of  Christians  were  constantly  arising  as  the 
movement  spread.  Many  of  these  bodies  have  had  a 
fairly  fabulous  growth.  Hence,  while  the  leaders  and 
their  followers  professed  conservative  views,  on  the 
whole,  in  matters  of  theology,  an  era  of  ecclesiastical 
and  theological  freedom  was  being  unconsciously  ushered 
in  and  a  stimulus  given  to  reconstruction  along  all  lines  of 
life  and  thought. 

Equally  significant  of  the  new  freedom  was  the  spon- 
taneous outburst  of  Christian  song.  The  Christian 
church  has  reason  to  be  proud  of  its  hymnody  in  almost 
all  the  periods  of  its  history,  despite  much  doggerel. 
There  were  noble  Protestant  hymnists  in  the  days  pre- 
ceding the  revival.  But  the  ritual  of  the  Church  of 
England,  being  stereotyped,  was  a  sedative  rather  than 
an  inspiration  of  religious  action,  and  the  public  services 
of  Nonconformists  and  Presbyterians  both  in  America 
and  in  Britain  were  rather  barren  on  the  liturgical  side. 
There  was  even  controversy  over  the  propriety  of  using 
" uninspired"  productions  in  worship.  Now  all  was 
changed.  The  new  faith  was  sung  into  the  hearts  of  the 
multitudes.  The  era  of  modern  hymnody  and  religious 
music  was  ushered  in.  Charles  Wesley  alone  composed 
over  six  thousand  hymns.     There  were  many  other  sweet 


Evangelicism  149 

singers  in  those  days,  though  none  so  prolific  as  he. 
Most  of  these  hymns  have  disappeared,  but  many  remain 
as  a  permanent  asset  of  the  Christian  faith.  The  reli- 
gious fruitage  remains  even  after  the  hymns  perish. 
Revivals  of  religion  are  always  marked  now  by  the 
presence  of  the  singing  evangelist.  The  new  faith  is 
strongly  emotional  everywhere.  The  range  of  emotions 
has  widened,  while  the  expression  is  more  restrained. 
The  main  point  in  this  connection  is  that  the  emphasis 
has  been  shifted  from  the  forms  of  order  or  of  doctrines 
to  the  feelings,  and  the  theology  that  would  expound 
the  new  faith  must  take  cognizance  of  the  change. 

The  reawakening  of  the  spirit  of  love  for  all  men 
issued  in  the  birth  of  the  modern  Protestant  foreign 
missionary  movement.  When  the  far  vision  of  William 
Carey  gave  to  the  churches  the  inspiration  for  ambitions 
and  undertakings  undreamed  of  before,  the  pent-up 
energies  of  Protestant  religion,  hitherto  confined  to 
narrow  bits  of  territory,  comparatively  speaking,  and 
barely  holding  its  own  against  Catholicism  in  the  long 
struggle  for  existence,  were  released  from  their  bonds 
and  developed  enterprises  whose  story  reads  like  a  fairy 
tale,  so  wonderful  was  their  success.  Christianity  has 
truly  become  a  world-religion.  Its  frontiers  are  now 
in  every  land.  The  work  was  urged  at  first  as  a  means  of 
rescuing  men  universally  from  guilt  and  condemnation, 
but  it  has  now  become  an  attempt  to  build  the  Christian 
faith  into  the  social,  industrial,  and  civil  fabric  of  the 
life  of  the  peoples.  The  variety  and  magnitude  of  the 
labors  involved,  the  new  acquaintance  with  the  multi- 
tudinous faiths  of  mankind,  the  necessity  of  interpreting 
the  Christian  faith  in  the  presence  of  these  faiths,  the 


150  What  Is  Christianity? 

inevitable  co-operation  of  Christians  who  in  the  home- 
land belonged  to  rival  churches,  and  the  association  of 
the  missionary  with  the  work  of  the  statesman  and  the 
man  of  commerce  have  produced  a  reaction  upon  the 
quality  of  the  religious  life  of  the  churches  at  home  and 
have  forced  upon  them  the  task  of  reinterpreting  their 
faith  to  themselves.  A  new  consciousness  of  the  inherent 
universality  of  the  Christian  faith  and  a  new  sense  of 
the  reality  of  the  inner  communion  of  all  Christians  are 
among  the  beneficent  results.  The  doctrinal  outcome 
will  be  referred  to  later. 

The  increase  of  general  intelligence  in  Protestant 
Christendom  is  equally  noteworthy.  The  astounding 
educational  advance  of  modern  times  is  directly  trace- 
able to  religious  impulses.  The  evangelist  is  followed 
by  the  teacher.  The  missionary  becomes  an  educa- 
tionalist. The  great  systems  of  public  schools,  high 
schools,  colleges,  and  universities,  of  which  modern 
states  are  so  justly  proud,  have  mostly  grown  up  from 
the  voluntary  schools  founded  by  religious  men  and 
maintained  by  private  funds  in  pursuance  of  the  purpose 
to  promote  the  spiritual  good  of  the  young.  Although 
it  may  be  true  that  in  many  cases  the  original  founders 
of  these  schools  were  seeking  particularly  to  guard  the 
young  believing  mind  from  the  assaults  of  a  secularized 
intellect,  nevertheless  the  evidence  remains  clear  that 
with  the  modern  Protestant  the  religious  life  cannot  be 
truly  fostered  except  by  the  increase  of  intelligence. 
Moreover,  in  addition  to  the  schools  of  Christendom 
there  is  the  tremendous  educational  influence  of  the 
press.  The  unlimited  circulation  of  newspapers  and 
periodicals  of  all  kinds  and  the  prodigious  output  of 


Evangelicism  151 

books,  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  free  intermingling 
of  millions  of  men  by  means  of  wide  travel  and  the 
use  of  the  telegraph  and  telephone,  have  produced  a 
sense  of  the  dignity  and  power  of  the  human  spirit  and 
a  consciousness  of  human  solidarity  scarcely  dreamed 
of  before.  The  religious  life  of  such  a  people  must  be 
vastly  different  in  its  content  and  utterance  from  any 
earlier  type.  There  is  a  modernized  Protestant  Chris- 
tianity. The  modern  evangel  has  obtained  a  wider  range 
of  appeal  and  an  increase  of  power  to  impress  its  convic- 
tions on  men.  It  has  appropriated  the  language  of 
modern  culture  and  has  gained  a  broader  outlook.  All 
the  pursuits  of  intelligence  are  now  reckoned  within 
the  pale  of  the  religious  life.  Christians  are  conscious 
of  a  larger  vocation.  In  order  that  this  vocation  may  be 
fulfilled  a  reinterpretation  of  Christianity  is  demanded. 

2.      SOME    SECULAR   FORCES   CONTRIBUTING    TO   THE 
FORMATION   OF  A  NEW  TYPE   OF  CHRISTIANITY 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  for  a  moment  that  the  reli- 
gious life  of  our  times  takes  its  character  wholly  from 
those  influences  which  are  ordinarily  acknowledged  as 
religious.  For  the  religious  life  of  any  people  at  any 
period  of  time  is  constituted  by  the  whole  complex  of 
forces  which,  in  their  unity,  go  to  make  up  the  character 
of  the  people  in  question.  Everything  about  them  heads 
up  in  their  religion.  This  is  seen  particularly  in  Prot- 
estant life.  For  Protestantism,  by  breaking  away  from 
the  ideals  of  the  cloister  and  sallying  forth  to  the  task  of 
mastering  and  sanctifying  the  natural,  exposed  itself  from 
the  very  first  to  the  molding  influence  of  industry  and 
trade  as  well  as  to  the  currents  of  social  and  political  life. 


152  What  Is  Christianity? 

It  is  surely  a  significant  thing  that  the  intensification 
and  expansion  of  the  religious  life  of  Protestantism  in 
the  last  century  and  a  half  is  fairly  paralleled  by  a  similar 
growth  in  the  production  and  exchange  of  material 
wealth.  The  spirit  of  enterprise  inherent  in  Prot- 
estantism, which  had  suffered  a  check  through  the 
internal  strifes  of  Europe,  reawoke  at  the  very  time  when 
"the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  began  to  move  mightily"  upon 
John  Wesley  and  George  Whitefield.  Beginning  in  the 
eighteenth  century  and  continuing  through  the  nine- 
teenth, there  was  an  economic  awakening  like  that  which 
occurred  when  mediaeval  Europe  was  roused  from  her 
intellectual  sloth,  her  moral  coarseness,  and  her  religious 
passivity.  Only,  the  new  change  was  on  a  tremendous 
scale.  Mechanical  invention  has  produced  a  revolution 
in  nearly  all  human  industries.  Production,  manu- 
facture, and  transportation  proceed  on  a  scale  impossible 
to  imagine  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago.  The  factory 
and  not  the  home  is  now  the  seat  of  industry.  The  town 
has  been  robbing  the  country  of  its  peasantry.  New 
vast  centers  of  population  have  been  created.  Cities 
number  their  inhabitants  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
and  by  the  millions.  New  sources  of  wealth  have  been 
sought  out  and  forces  long  concealed  from  human  ken 
have  been  recruited  for  man's  service.  Lands  far 
separated  geographically  have  realized  a  close  commun- 
ity of  interest.  Railroads  have  made  them  neighbors. 
Great  ships  of  high  speed  in  ever-growing  numbers  plow 
the  seas.  The  production  of  wealth  has  become  fabulous, 
and  its  exchange  is  now  so  complicated  that  only  the 
few  understand  its  processes.  Geographical  boundaries 
and  national  distinctions  have  been  mostly  overcome 


Evangelicism  153 

for  the  purposes  of  trade.  Steam,  steel,  and  electricity 
have  belted  far-separated  communities  together  as  one 
vast  industrial  body.  The  problems  of  adjustment 
which  in  consequence  confront  the  economist,  the  states- 
man, and  the  moralist  are  simply  appalling.  Not  less 
serious  are  the  problems  which  confront  the  religious 
thinker,  as  we  shall  see. 

Be  it  noted  that  the  Protestant  nations  have  been 
the  leaders  in  these  enterprises.  Where  Protestant  reli- 
gion enters,  there  too  comes  material  prosperity  and 
comfort.  It  is  surely  a  far  cry  from  the  natural  poverty 
of  the  primitive  Christian  and  his  longing  for  the  Lord's 
return,  as  well  as  from  the  voluntary  poverty  of  the 
mediaeval  saint  and  his  longing  for  heaven,  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  incalculable  wealth  by  modern  Protestant  Chris- 
tians and  their  devotion  of  it  to  the  enterprises  of  religious 
faith.  There  seems  to  be  a  natural  association  between 
Protestant  religion  and  Protestant  industry.  The  con- 
currence of  the  two  revivals  in  time  and  space  implies 
their  dependence  upon  a  common  impulse.  Surely  some 
new  sense  of  freedom,  of  initiative,  of  creative  power, 
had  come  to  men  and  was  manifesting  its  character  in 
the  parallel  conquests  of  things  material  and  things 
spiritual.  That  it  was  so  in  the  spiritual  realm  we  have 
already  seen.  It  was  the  same  in  the  realm  of  physical 
industry,  we  must  conclude,  if  we  rely  on  the  enunciation 
of  its  controlling  principle  by  Adam  Smith  in  his  famous 
Wealth  of  Nations.  He  says :  "  The  patrimony  of  a  poor 
man  lies  in  the  strength  and  dexterity  of  his  hands,  and 
to  hinder  him  from  employing  this  strength  and  dexterity 
in  what  manner  he  thinks  proper,  without  injury  to  his 
neighbor,  is  a  plain  violation  of  this  most  sacred  property. 


154  What  Is  Christianity? 

It  is  a  manifest  encroachment  upon  the  just  liberty  of 
both  the  workman  and  of  those  who  might  be  disposed 
to  employ  him."  If  we  change  the  reference  in  these 
words  from  man's  outer  powers  to  his  inner  powers  and 
the  application  from  external  acts  to  inward  acts,  we 
detect  the  inner  harmony  between  Protestant  industrial- 
ism and  Protestant  religion.  We  shall  see,  however,  that 
neither  is  an  instance  of  pure  individualism. 

Far  more  significant  than  the  mere  creation  and 
accumulation  of  wealth  or  the  new  distribution  and 
grouping  of  population,  with  the  accompanying  social 
changes,  is  the  manner  (alluded  to  above)  in  which  the 
activities  and  interests  of  all  the  peoples  concerned  have 
become  interlocked.  An  economic  disturbance  in  one 
quarter  of  the  world  is  rapidly  transmitted  to  almost 
every  part  of  it.  A  feeling  of  economic  interdependence 
pervades  the  world,  overriding  hostile  tariffs  and  other 
artificial  restrictions.  Economic  insularity  is  becoming  a 
thing  of  the  past.  The  industries  of  the  world  are  more 
than  competitive;  they  are  complementary.  There  is 
an  increasing  sensitiveness  with  regard  to  business 
happenings  everywhere.  The  time  seems  near  when 
the  many  economic  kingdoms  of  the  world  shall  become 
one  kingdom. 

Changes  in  the  political  realm  during  the  period 
under  review  have  been  equally  startling,  and  their 
bearing  on  the  religious  life  of  men  is  important.  It  has 
been  a  time  of  political  revolution,  partly  peaceful  and 
partly  violent.  In  this  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  French 
peoples  have  been  the  leaders.  The  democratic  self- 
affirmation  that  broke  out  in  the  American  Revolution 
and  culminated  in  the  founding  of  the  republic  of  the 


Evangelicism  155 

United  States  was  just  the  revival  and  reinforcement  of 
the  ancient  British  contention  that  the  people  must  be 
self-governing.  It  reawoke  in  the  mother-country  the 
conviction  of  the  supreme  worth  of  this  principle  and  the 
determination  to  enforce  it.  The  loss  of  a  portion  of 
the  British  Empire  was  followed  by  a  wonderful  exten- 
sion of  it  in  other  directions,  and  with  this  extension  of 
political  power  went  a  gradual  extension  of  democratic 
self-government  to  more  than  four  hundred  millions  of 
people.  The  revolutionary  spirit  that  wrought  success- 
fully in  America  spread  to  France  and  roused  that 
magnificent  though  long-suffering  people  to  the  con- 
sciousness of  powers  and  rights  that  had  smoldered  for 
generations.  With  the  watchwords  "  Liberty,  equality, 
fraternity"  upon  their  lips  the  French  people  pressed  on 
toward  the  fondly  cherished  task  of  bringing  all  nations 
to  share  in  their  own  newly  discovered  destiny.  The 
outcome  was  seen  in  the  turmoils  that  came  to  a  climax 
in  the  Napoleonic  wars.  Though  a  powerful  reaction 
followed,  it  was  not  permanent  except  in  a  few  quarters. 
The  nineteenth  century  was  pre-eminently  revolutionary 
in  politics.  There  were  repeated  revolutions  in  France, 
culminating  in  the  firm  establishment  of  the  Republic. 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  colonies  revolted  and  succeeded 
in  forming  independent  governments,  mostly  republican. 
Revolution  in  the  Italian  peninsula  issued  in  a  truly 
national  government.  A  peaceable  revolution  was 
accomplished  in  Britain  by  the  passing  of  electoral 
reform  bills,  emancipation  acts,  and  the  repeal  of  the 
Corn  Laws.  Minor  revolutions  occurred  elsewhere. 
Attempted  revolutions  in  Spain,  Poland,  Prussia,  and 
Russia  mostly  failed  because  of  the  want  of  deep  popular 


156  What  Is  Christianity? 

conviction  or  because  of  the  supremacy  of  the  military 
power.  Almost  with  the  turn  of  the  twentieth  century 
the  ancient  Manchu  dynasty  was  overthrown  and  a 
republic  was  formed  in  China.  At  the  very  moment  of 
my  writing  there  comes  over  the  wires  and  through  the 
air  the  news  of  an  internal  struggle  in  mighty  Russia 
that  may  pave  the  way  for  democracy.  Similar  changes 
elsewhere  seem  impending. 

A  profound  spiritual  significance  in  these  changes 
is  further  suggested  by  the  intimacy  of  their  connection 
with  the  achievements  of  scientific  investigation.  Were 
one  to  confine  his  attention  to  the  progress  of  "  natural 
science"  alone,  the  result  would  be  sufficiently  impressive. 
The  man  of  science,  armed  with  a  splendid  technique, 
has  been  reconquering  old  realms  and  conquering  realms 
hitherto  unknown.  Scientific  research  has  been  prolific 
not  only  in  discovery  but  also  in  the  creation  of  new 
problems  for  the  thinker.  Consider  a  single  pertinent 
fact  in  this  connection — the  dependence  of  modern  indus- 
trialism and  modern  civil  government  upon  the  labors  of 
science.  Agriculture,  manufacture,  building,  and  trans- 
portation look  for  guidance  to  the  scientific  laboratory 
where,  unseen  by  the  great  world  around  him,  the 
explorer  of  nature's  secrets  makes  his  discoveries  of  the 
dark  continents  of  reality  which  others  are  to  exploit 
for  human  good.  In  that  same  quiet  chamber  also  are 
being  forged  implements  of  government  by  which  the 
citizens  of  a  nation  are  enabled  to  live  and  move 
together  and  the  different  nations  to  work  out  their 
fearful  problems  in  alliance  or  opposition.  In  the 
present  war  the  issues  are  as  much  determined  by  the 
man  who  holds  the  weapons  of  scientific  experiment  as 


Evangelicism  157 

by  the  soldier  who  wields  the  weapons  which  these  other 
weapons  have  made. 

When  the  religious  thinker  contemplates  these  recent 
developments,  he  is  likely  to  be  impressed  with  the 
following: 

In  the  first  place,  these  different  tides  of  influence 
have  been  synchronous,  concurrent,  and  operative  upon 
the  life  of  about  the  same  peoples.  The  awakening  of 
the  religious  consciousness,  the  commitment  to  new 
religious  and  ecclesiastical  enterprise,  the  uprising  of  the 
Christian  intelligence,  the  growing  mastery  of  the  secrets 
of  nature  and  the  control  and  utilization  of  her  forces 
for  man's  purposes,  the  progress  of  democratic  revolution 
in  political  and  civil  life,  the  weaving  of  the  web  of 
international  relations  from  which  no  civilized  nation 
can  extricate  itself— these  constitute  a  great  mass  move- 
ment that  seems  to  operate  in  obedience  to  a  new  con- 
sciousness of  the  meaning  of  human  life  and  to  a  new 
interpretation  of  its  destiny. 

In  the  second  place,  there  is  manifest  in  all  this  the 
power  of  individual  personal  initiative.  Conventional 
beliefs,  social  customs,  industrial  methods,  political 
establishments,  have  all  been  challenged  by  daring 
reformers  and  innovators.  The  experimenter,  the  specu- 
lator, the  discoverer,  the  inventor,  and  the  creator  have 
done  new  things,  and  the  world  has  been  following,  some- 
times "afar  off,"  and  trying  to  appropriate  the  results. 
No  matter  how  fast  society  seeks  to  institutionalize  and 
force  the  individual's  activity  into  regular  grooves,  he 
breaks  away  and  pushes  on  still  faster.  He  cannot 
perish.  There  never  was  such  another  age  of  individual- 
ism as  the  present. 


158  What  Is  Christianity? 

In  the  third  place,  by  this  very  development  of  the 
free  individual  personality  the  true  universality  of  man 
has  come  to  light.  The  breaking  of  the  old  bonds  of 
union  among  men  has  led  the  way  to  a  higher  unity. 
This  is  attained  by  the  normal  unfolding  of  his  powers  in 
their  unity  and  not  by  the  method  of  artificial  restraint. 
The  consciousness  of  the  essential  inner  unity  of  all  man- 
kind, of  the  facts  and  forces  of  nature,  and  of  man  and 
nature — even  though  the  character  of  this  latter  unity 
may  be  indefinable  as  yet — is  gradually  forcing  itself  upon 
the  human  spirit.  Thus  by  the  common  progress  of  men 
under  a  guidance,  higher,  let  us  believe,  than  the  human, 
a  fundamental  principle  of  the  Reformation  is  finding 
recognition :  namely,  life  is  a  unit,  the  separation  of  the 
secular  activity  of  man  from  the  holy  is  being  annulled, 
heaven  and  earth  are  coming  together,  the  world  in  which 
we  live  is  our  Father's  house  of  "many  mansions." 

If,  therefore,  all  these  various  regions  of  human 
experience  belong  to  one  another  and  if  in  their  unity 
they  constitute  the  proper  sphere  of  religion;  then,  if  the 
Christian  faith  is  to  permeate  them  all  with  its  spirit,  if 
it  is  destined  to  become  the  universal  faith,  this  must 
be  because  it  reveals  the  ultimate  meaning  of  them  all. 
A  new  attempt  at  an  interpretation  of  its  meaning 
becomes  indispensable  to  the  believer. 

3.      THE  INFLUENCE   OF   RECENT  ATTEMPTS  TO 
UNDERSTAND  CHRISTIANITY 

Of  late  the  Christian  spirit  has  been  diligently  work- 
ing upon  a  new  interpretation  of  itself.  If  the  positions 
assumed  in  the  foregoing  statements  be  tenable,  then 
the  imperativeness  of  restating  the  Christian  faith  can 


Evangelicism  159 

be  escaped  only  by  him  who  abandons  its  hope  of  uni- 
versal dominion.  For,  indeed,  it  is  in  obedience  to  the 
high  demands  of  the  faith  itself  that  men  have  been 
exploring  and  mapping  out  afresh  the  territory  it  has 
covered  in  its  course. 

A  reinterpretation  of  the  faith  has  been  sought 
through  a  historical  recapitulation  of  its  progress  in 
time  and  space.  The  birth  of  the  historical  spirit  came 
late  in  Christian  circles.  Until  quite  recently  the  his- 
tory of  Christianity  was  studied  mainly  for  apologetical 
or  polemical  purposes.  Catholics  supported  the  claims 
of  their  church  by  referring  to  an  unbroken  historical 
succession.  Protestants  sought  to  prove  that  Catholi- 
cism was  a  pagan  corruption  of  the  true  faith  by  com- 
paring it  with  the  early  Christianity.  Later  on,  the 
Deists  sought  to  establish  a  similar  charge  against 
orthodox  Protestantism.  Orthodox  apologists  like  Lard- 
ner  replied  with  evidence  corroborative  of  the  historicity 
of  biblical  accounts.  The  work  of  the  historical  criticism 
of  biblical  documents  was  soon  under  way.  At  last  a 
direct  interest  in  the  history  of  Christianity  was  aroused. 
It  shared  in  the  spirit  of  scientific  exploration  referred 
to  above.  The  Christian  historian  came  under  the  sway 
of  the  scientific  conscience  for  facts.  The  apologetical 
and  polemical  interest  began  to  give  place  to  the  love 
of  truth.  By  unmeasured  diligence  and  patience  the 
long  story  has  been  gradually  unfolded.  The  perspec- 
tive of  nineteen  centuries  and  the  broad  horizon  of 
present  world-knowledge  have  combined  to  produce 
certain  overwhelming  convictions. 

To  begin  with,  the  Christian  religion,  whatever  be 
its  source  or  its  ultimate  explanation,  is  a  distinctive 


160  What  Is  Christianity? 

spiritual  force  in  the  world  of  men,  increasing  in  momen- 
tum from  age  to  age,  permeating  more  and  more  the 
self-conscious  life,  the  social  relations,  the  political  insti- 
tutions, and  the  industrial  enterprises  of  the  people  who 
come  under  its  influence.     It  seems  destined  to  dominate 
the  world.     In  the  successive  stages  of  its  career  it  has 
produced  or  assumed  many  forms   of   expression — dis- 
courses, prophecies,  hymns,  churches,  schools,  types  of 
architecture,  forms  of  ritual  or  liturgy,  and  bodies  of 
doctrine.     Each  one  of  these  seemed  at  some  time  essen- 
tial to  it,  but  they  have  all  been  under  constant  process 
of  change.     They  pass,  but  it  survives.     It  is  greater 
than  any  or  all  of  its  creations — greater  than  the  Bible, 
the  churches,  and  the  creeds.     Its  value  lies  in  itself 
and  not  in  something  that  is  a  means  to  its  progress. 
Its  truth  lies  in  its  own  inherent  power  and  not  in  its 
conformity  to  some  standard  outside  of  it.     Not  less 
wonderful  than  its  many  changing  forms  is  the  constancy 
of  its  character.     For,  notwithstanding  the  disharmonies 
and  perversions  that  have  arisen  in  its  course,  it  has 
ever  tended  to  turn  the  minds  of  men  trustfully  to  an 
Unseen  from  whom  they  came  and  to  whom  they  go,  a 
heavenly  Father;   it  has  spurred  them  on  hopefully  to 
a  personal  ideal  that  ever  beckons  them  on  to  the  better 
life  and,  though  itself  always  in  advance  of  them,  is 
very  real  to  them  because  it  fulfils  itself  daily  in  them; 
it  has  inspired  them  with  undying  courage  and  strength 
because  it  has  made  them  conscious  of  a  Power  dwelling 
in  their  hearts  and  ever  rilling  their  lives  with  greater 
worth.     It  has  therefore  thrown  itself  freely  into  the 
great  enterprises  of  men  and  has  stimulated  them  con- 
stantly to  new  enterprise.     It  has  thereby  pushed  the 
race  on  to  higher  achievement. 


Evangelicism  161 

In  all  this  it  has  borne  a  distinctive  character.  It 
has  made  men  aware  that  the  greatest  thing  about  them 
is  their  inner  life — in  this  lies  the  clue  to  all  that  is  worth- 
ful,  the  bond  that  unites  men  to  one  another  and  that 
brings  them  to  fellowship  with  God.  It  has  always 
purified  that  life,  removing  the  selfishness,  the  cowardice, 
the  malice,  and  the  lust.  It  is  communion-forming. 
It  has  united  men  in  mutual  love  and  esteem,  it  has 
purified  their  intercourse  from  immorality,  it  has  bound 
their  wills  together  in  the  pursuit  of  ends  which  could 
never  be  attained  without  this  pure  love.  It  has  filled 
them  with  the  determination  to  unite  all  men  finally  in 
a  common  holy  destiny,  and  teaches  them  never  to  give 
one  another  up,  never  to  despair  of  men.  None  can  be 
spared.  Hence  the  labors  expended  so  freely  in  behalf 
of  the  ignorant  and  the  fallen.  Its  course  is  marked  by 
works  of  mercy. 

The  historical  view  of  Christianity  has  had  a  liberat- 
ing and  elevating  influence  on  those  who  have  partici- 
pated in  it.  While  it  inculcates  reverence  for  churches 
and  creeds  as  forms  in  which  the  Christian  spirit  clothes 
itself,  it  teaches  men  to  regard  all  these  as  only  tempo- 
rary. They  are  helps  for  a  time  but  not  authorities, 
good  servants  but  bad  masters.  By  looking  backward 
men  learn  that  their  ideal  is  before,  and  not  behind, 
them.  Historical  study  has  helped  to  create  what  I 
have  here  called  evangelicism,  the  gospel  of  history,  the 
message  of  the  ultimate  attainment  of  the  Christian 
good. 

Or,  in  the  next  place,  we  may  turn  to  the  recent 
study  of  the  character  and  career  of  Jesus  Christ.  This 
is  a  special  instance,  in  part,  of  the  influence  of  historical 
study,  but  on  account  of  its  cardinal  relation  to  our  faith 


1 62  What  Is  Christianity? 

it  is  deserving  of  a  separate  consideration.  It  is  not 
very  long  since  the  cry,  "Back  to  Christ,"  began  to  be 
heard  in  Protestant  circles  after  a  long  silence.  It  arose 
partly  out  of  the  feeling  that  traditional  Christianity  had 
wandered  far  from  the  spirit  of  its  founder,  and  out  of 
the  desire  to  recover  its  original  purity  and  simplicity. 
The  motive  was  practical  rather  than  theoretical — the 
desire  to  live  the  true  Christian  life  rather  than  the  wish 
to  construct  a  new  Christian  dogma.  The  hope  was 
to  find  in  the  story  of  Jesus  and  in  the  record  of  his 
teachings  the  needed  guidance  and  strength  for  the 
moral  and  religious  life.  Ecclesiastical  strifes,  doc- 
trinal differences,  metaphysical  problems,  were  to  be 
left  aside  and  the  character  of  his  personality  recovered. 
Men  were  to  have  a  direct  view  of  his  way  of  life,  his 
aims  and  hopes  and  ambitions,  his  estimate  of  men  and 
his  treatment  of  them,  his  outlook  upon  the  world, 
and  his  heart-relation  to  God.  They  were  even  to  live 
through  his  inner  experiences.     The  motive  was  pure. 

The  outcome  is  rich  in  every  way,  but  also  surprising. 
For  the  religious  purpose  has  been  strengthened  by  the 
same  scientific  interest  that  operated  so  powerfully  in 
the  historical  study  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  task 
has  proved  unexpectedly  difficult.  The  labor  expended 
has  been  prodigious,  and  the  spirit  and  method  of  the 
study,  on  the  whole,  worthy  of  the  subject.  It  became 
evident  soon  that  there  was  much  more  to  do  than  to 
construct  a  new  " harmony  of  the  Gospels,"  or  to  arrange 
Jesus'  teachings  in  an  orderly  manner.  The  world  of 
men  and  things  in  which  he  lived,  the  concrete  circum- 
stances that  called  forth  his  deeds  and  words,  the  tradi- 
tions and  other  influences  from  the  distant  past  that 


Evangelicism  163 

entered  into  his  soul,  had  to  be  restored.  Above  all, 
the  student  could  not  solve  his  problem  without  seeking 
to  reproduce  in  his  own  soul  the  very  heart-life  of  Jesus. 
Even  this  was  insufficient.  For  it  was  as  truly  impos- 
sible to  know  him  apart  from  the  impressions  he  made 
on  other  people  as  it  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  char- 
acter of  any  other  man  apart  from  the  reflection  of  it 
in  those  who  came  under  his  influence.  Indeed,  we 
have  no  representation  of  his  words  and  deeds  that  was 
given  independently  of  the  manner  in  which  others  felt 
about  him. 

We  are  here  concerned  particularly  with  the  results 
for  the  Christian  life.  What  are  the  most  important  of 
them  ?  Summarily,  first  of  all  is  the  assurance  that  a 
human  life  possessed  of  the  beauty  and  the  strength,  the 
meekness  and  the  majesty,  the  tenderness  and  the  stern- 
ness, the  patience  and  determination,  and  all  the  other 
qualities  that  stand  out  in  the  picture  of  the  evangelists 
was  really  lived  in  such  a  world  and  at  such  a  time  as 
that.  The  unspeakable  comfort  is  ours  that  such  a 
life  can  be  lived,  it  is  thoroughly  human,  it  may  be  ours. 
An  immense  inspiration  comes  to  make  that  life  our  own 
and  to  live  it  by  faith  in  the  same  God.  Then,  too,  we 
see  that  this  life  of  his  in  its  inner  qualities  is  transmis- 
sible and  has  really  been  transmitted  to  others.  It  has 
flowed  out  into  human  life  at  large.  It  has  become  a 
permanent  asset  of  the  race.  The  more  men  familiarize 
themselves  with  the  image  of  his  personality  reflected 
in  the  narratives  and  in  the  religious  life  that  has  been 
propagated  from  him  as  its  source  the  more  his  name 
comes  to  stand  for  the  whole  content  of  what  is  good  for 
men  and  for  the  whole  aim  of  their  being.     He  has 


164  What  Is  Christianity? 

become  the  great  companion  of  men.  They  feel  that  he 
is  living  with  them  all  the  time.  His  spirit  goes  out 
conquering  and  to  conquer.  This  is  the  faith  he  has 
produced  in  them,  and  this  is  his  great  achievement. 
Him,  therefore,  they  follow.  With  him  they  live,  with 
him  they  die,  and  with  him  they  reign.  This  may  not 
be  formal  logic,  but  it  is  faith,  and  he  has  given  it  to  them 
as  their  inalienable  possession.  The  emancipating  out- 
come of  the  study  has  also  been  very  great.  Men  who 
cannot  understand  the  creeds,  who  feel  that  the  profound 
metaphysical  subtleties  that  have  been  draped  about  him 
are  beyond  their  power  to  comprehend,  and  who  have 
believed  that  their  faith  can  be  only  second  hand  and 
dependent  on  authority  have  laid  hold  once  more  on  the 
confidence  that  he  is  the  friend  of  those  who  labor  and 
are  heavy  laden  and  the  meek  and  lowly  may  learn  of 
him.  A  divine  personality  has  triumphed  once  more 
over  institutions  and  theories. 

A  third  line  of  reflection  that  has  powerfully  con- 
tributed to  the  modernized  Protestant  Christianity  is 
traceable  in  the  renewed  study  of  the  inner  life  of  the 
Christian  soul.  Until  recently  the  subjective  side  of  the 
Christian  religion  was  scarcely  regarded  as  affording 
the  true  basis  for  an  understanding  of  its  nature.  The 
warmth  of  religious  feeling  in  men  has  always  tended  to 
express  itself  with  great  freedom  and  confidence.  Piety 
has  often  reveled  in  the  joy  and  power  of  a  new  life  in  the 
soul.  Mystics  in  all  ages,  like  the  born  psychologists 
they  are,  have  sought  to  trace  in  an  orderly  manner  the 
working  of  the  divine  Spirit  upon  their  own  spirit  in  the 
hope  of  communicating,  if  possible,  the  great  secret  to 
others.     But  the  very  subjectivity  of  their  represen- 


Evangelicism  165 

tations,  the  extraordinary  character  of  them,  the  com- 
mon opinion  that  these  men  were  the  favored  few — 
"saints"  to  whom  were  vouchsafed  experiences  denied 
to  the  common  people— confirmed  the  tendency  to  repose 
the  truth  of  Christianity  on  the  external  authority  of 
miraculous  events,  or  of  the  church,  or  of  the  Scriptures, 
or  of  the  creeds,  or  of  sacraments.  The  subjective  ex- 
perience of  the  Christian  was  conceived  to  be  the  result 
of  receiving  the  objective  realities. 

But  when  the  great  revival  referred  to  in  the  fore- 
going pages  led  to  a  reaffirmation  of  the  worth  of  the 
religious  experience,  the  way  was  opened  to  the  work  of 
reinterpreting  the  meaning  of  the  Christian  faith  on  the 
basis  of  that  very  subjective  experience  which  had  been 
so  often  disparaged.  The  great  Schleiermacher  led  the 
way.  The  movement  has  grown  to  vast  proportions. 
The  psychology  of  the  Christian  religion  has  become  a 
regular  discipline  in  theological  studies.  Passing  by  the 
scientific  product,  the  outcome  for  the  Christian  faith 
has  been  impressive. 

For  one  thing,  it  has  led  Christians  to  perceive  that 
their  greatest  possession  is  just  the  faith  itself  that  has 
arisen  in  the  soul.  It  is  the  man's  inalienable  wealth, 
and  its  power  is  inextinguishable.  Even  the  inability 
to  trace  its  source  or  to  justify  it  intellectually  is  not 
fatal  to  it.  It  moves  on  in  the  soul  and  seems  to  have 
a  logic  of  its  own.  Moreover,  we  have  found  that  the 
experience  is  not  merely  subjective  or  purely  individual- 
istic. Its  power  of  self-communication  to  others  and 
its  unifying  power  in  communities  of  men  are  as  impres- 
sive as  its  inner  personal  force.  Then,  too,  it  is  dis- 
covered that  religion  of  some  kind  is  universal.     Men 


1 66  What  Is  Christianity? 

are  not  men  without  it.  The  way  of  approach  to  the 
votaries  of  other  faiths  is  open.  The  Christian  religion 
has  points  of  contact  with  all  other  religions,  and  if  it 
is  destined  to  displace  them,  as  we  believe,  that  is  because 
all  that  is  truly  worthful  in  them  finds  fulfilment  in  the 
Christian  faith.  This  view  carries  with  it  everywhere  a 
profound  respect  for  religion.  For  the  study  of  religions 
tends  to  confirm  the  Christian's  confidence  that  his 
religious  faith  is  that  which  more  than  anything  else 
constitutes  the  character  and  the  excellency  of  man's 
nature.  The  story  of  man  becomes  the  history  of  his 
religion,  or,  putting  it  in  another  way,  the  religious  faith 
of  man  is  the  wellspring  of  all  his  activities. 

4.      A  CHARACTERIZATION   OF   EVANGELICISM 

The  quality  of  the  modernized  Protestantism  which 
I  have  chosen  to  designate  by  this  name  can  be  easily 
anticipated  from  the  foregoing  description  of  the  influ- 
ences which  have  combined  to  produce  it. 

First  of  all,  there  is  the  point  of  its  religious  emphasis : 
The  worth  of  personality  is  supreme.  In  every  being 
that  has  the  capacity  to  know  that  "this  is  I,"  whether 
it  be  the  child  whose  self-consciousness  is  only  inchoate 
or  the  perfect  man  whose  soul  is  aware  of  its  dignity 
in  such  a  masterly  manner  that  it  proposes  to  subjugate 
a  world  to  its  authority;  whether  it  be  the  crude  and 
coarse  savage  barely  able  to  defeat  the  animal  within 
or  without  him  in  the  battle  of  life,  or  the  man  whose 
soul  is  clean  and  tender  and  aware  of  its  kinship  with  the 
Unseen,  there  is  in  every  personality  a  sanctuary  that 
may  not  be  profaned  by  the  foot  of  another  without 
coming  under  a  curse,  a  citadel  from  which  he  may  repel 


Evangelicism  167 

all  invaders  because  in  his  inmost  being  he  is  united  with 
the  Father  of  all.  Hence  exist  the  reverence  for  child- 
hood and  the  respect  for  its  rights,  the  sacredness  of 
human  life  and  the  effort  to  make  the  most  of  its  potencies 
in  all,  the  horror  at  the  sight  of  cruelty  and  wanton 
slaughter  of  men,  and  the  leaping  of  millions  of  men  to 
arms  to  guard  the  community  of  men  from  danger. 
This  is  modern  religion. 

Thereby  the  tasks  of  life  take  on  a  new  meaning. 
None  of  them  is  worthless  and  none  of  them  is  tried  in 
vain.  Whether  it  be  the  lowly  toil  of  him  who  handles 
the  pick  and  shovel,  or  the  delicate  and  recondite  search 
of  the  highly  trained  physicist,  or  the  appalling  issues 
confronting  the  statesman  and  the  soldier,  makes  no 
difference.  These  tasks  are  religious.  In  the  midst 
of  them,  and  not  by  separation  from  them,  will  the  man 
find  his  salvation.  All  men  are  equally  called  by  the 
Most  High,  and  all  are  to  be  estimated  in  terms  of  his 
worth. 

The  very  material  universe  loses  its  hostile  or  indiffer- 
ent character  and  becomes  the  sphere  in  which  self- 
conscious  personality  may  find  fulfilment  of  its  powers. 
The  universe  is  friendly  and  will  not  crush  us.  From  it 
there  come  to  us  constantly  messages  of  hope  and  inspira- 
tion. There  is  an  infinite  Good  Will  at  the  heart  of 
things  and  nothing  shall  by  any  means  hurt  us.  For 
in  it  and  through  it  there  is  a  personality  that  answers 
to  us  when  we  cry,  a  Spirit  in  whom  our  spirit  becomes 
aware  of  its  destiny,  a  God  whose  fatherly  purpose  is 
revealed  to  us,  his  children.  He  will  never  leave  us. 
Neither  life  nor  death  is  a  barrier  to  his  fellowship 
with  us.     His  very  judgments  draw  us  to  him  in  lowly, 


1 68  What  Is  Christianity? 

loving  assurance  of  safety.  For  his  purpose  toward  men 
is  not  double  but  single,  and  he  will  not  be  discouraged 
in  its  pursuit.  If  the  God  of  the  early  Protestant  was 
conceived  mostly  as  the  Judge-Ruler,  the  God  of  the 
modernized  Protestant  is  mainly  the  Father-Ruler. 

Not  less  striking  is  the  religious  estimate  of  Jesus 
Christ.  He  is  more  than  a  remote  figure  for  whose 
physical  return  men  long  and  wait  in  vain,  more  than  a 
mysterious  union  of  two  incommensurable  natures  to  be 
reverenced  in  a  mystery,  more  than  the  sorrowful  sufferer 
who  has  renounced  all  earthly  goods,  more  than  the  penal 
sufferer  who  awakens  our  gratitude  by  his  death  but 
reserves  his  high  prerogative  to  himself.  He  is  that 
perfect  personality  who  has  sown  himself  into  the  life 
of  our  humanity  in  such  a  way  that  he  can  never  be 
separated  from  the  weakest  or  the  worst  of  us,  the  great 
companion  who  carries  us  gladly  into  the  very  secret 
of  his  vicariousness  and  imparts  it  to  us  as  our  high 
privilege.  No  solitary  grandeur  is  his.  The  prayer  is 
never  in  vain: 

O  Master,  let  me  walk  with  thee 

In  lowly  paths  of  service  free; 

Tell  me  thy  secret. 

In  the  answer  to  this  prayer  the  modern  man  finds  his 
salvation. 

In  the  next  place,  the  moral  ideal  is  correspondingly 
elevated.  In  place  of  the  attainment  of  an  abstract 
righteousness  or  freedom  from  judicial  guilt  and  the 
passive  peace  that  was  formerly  supposed  to  issue  from  it 
there  is  the  overmastering  desire  to  attain  to  the  life  of 
ministry  to  men  as  the  highest  privilege  of  life.  Personal 
worth   is   to   be    secured   by   unstinted   self-giving   to 


Evangelicism  169 

others.  The  true  renunciation  is  made  by  achievement. 
The  true  heaven  of  rest  is  found  in  perfect  action. 
The  truly  unselfish  life  is  found,  not  in  retirement 
from  the  world,  but  in  the  free  commitment  of  one's  self 
to  the  work  of  making  the  material  and  spiritual  forces  of 
the  universe  instrumental  to  the  purposes  of  personality 
and  to  the  work  of  permeating  the  affairs  of  men  in  all 
the  realms  of  action  with  a  sense  of  the  infinite  worth  of 
every  person,  so  that  men  may  be  bound  together  in  a 
communion  of  good-will.  The  man  who  smites  with 
terrible  blows  the  forces  that  rise  in  opposition  to  this 
ideal  and  who  upholds  with  might  the  forces  working 
in  its  favor  is  the  true  modern  saint. 

The  whole  man  is  involved  in  the  pursuit  of  the  ideal. 
Physical  well-being  and  intellectual  vigor  have  moral 
value.  The  material  goods  which  serve  the  purpose  of 
realizing  the  spiritual  ideal  are  to  be  cherished  and  not 
despised.  Intellectual  pursuits  are  not  a  luxury,  but  a 
necessity  of  the  moral  career.  The  whole  man  in  his 
unity  must  be  saved,  and  that  not  by  submission  to  a 
mysterious  force  from  without,  but  by  means  of  his  own 
hearty  self-commitment  to  his  task.  This  concentrated 
activity  is  not  in  order  to  rest,  but  in  order  to  the  attain- 
ment of  more  perfect  action. 

As  the  whole  man  is  sanctified,  so  the  whole  of  the 
natural  order  of  society  is  sanctified.  Institutions,  such 
as  the  family,  the  school,  the  business  corporation,  the 
state,  are  no  longer  purely  secular,  but  take  on  the  same 
holy  character  which  has  been  ascribed  to  the  church. 
They  are  modes  of  the  progressive  realization  of  that 
supreme  moral  ideal  for  which  Jesus  Christ  gave  himself 
— the  Kingdom  of  God, 


170  What  Is  Christianity? 

In  the  third  place,  there  is  an  institutional  interest 
in  evangelicism.  The  interest  of  institutions  lies  in  their 
instrumental  value.  Institutions  of  all  kinds  are  to  be 
tested  by  serviceability  to  human  needs.  Churches  and 
their  priests  or  ministers,  their  forms  of  organization 
and  their  liturgies,  their  sacred  writings  and  their  creeds, 
fall  under  the  same  rule  as  schools  with  their  educational 
methods,  civil  states  with  their  laws,  and  industrial 
orders  with  their  processes  of  production  and  exchange — 
namely,  the  imperious  demand  that  they  minister  to  the 
creation  of  a  community  life  in  which  the  Christian  ideal 
of  perfect  personality  may  find  fulfilment.  Without 
this,  no  matter  how  hoary  their  traditions  or  lofty  their 
claims,  they  are  nehushtan.  Sanctity  lies  not  in  insti- 
tutions or  offices,  but  in  the  character  of  the  man 
whose  higher  life  they  serve.  These  things  do  not  come 
to  us  with  authority  from  without,  but  they  are  created 
from  within  the  man  and  have  their  authority  there. 
Evangelicism  is  institutionally  free.  And  thus,  with 
its  broad  and  deep  interpretation  of  the  relation  of  the 
Christian  religion  to  the  forms  in  which  the  spirit  of  the 
man  has  clothed  itself  in  the  past  or  may  clothe  itself 
in  the  future,  it  prepares  us  for  the  realization  of  the 
longed-for  unity  of  all  Christians  and  at  last  of  all  men. 

Finally,  there  is  the  theological  trend.  The  theology 
of  evangelicism  is  yet  to  be  written,  for  the  most  part. 
It  would  be  impossible  within  our  available  space  to 
indicate  even  in  barest  outline  the  contents  of  this 
theology.  Only  a  word  or  two  may  be  said  about  its 
general  character.  To  begin  with,  the  theological 
interest  will  be  deep  because  theology  is  a  part  of  that 
same  spiritual  life  in  men  which  is  active  in  faith.    As 


Evangelicism  171 

this  faith  grows  theology  must  advance.  Then,  too,  the 
theology  of  evangelicism  will  be  sensitive  to  all  those 
other  world-forces  which  we  have  enumerated  as  uniting 
to  produce  it,  and  it  will  attempt  to  give  a  religious 
explanation  of  them  all.  Moreover,  it  will  have  a 
distinctly  practical  aim.  It  will  strive  consciously  to 
give  to  the  believer  the  guidance  he  needs  in  performing 
his  duty  in  the  midst  of  those  currents  of  power  by  which 
he  finds  himself  surrounded.  It  will  be  the  theology, 
not  of  the  monk,  but  of  the  man  of  affairs.  For  this 
reason  it  will  be  free  from  bondage  to  all  or  any  past 
forms  of  doctrine  or  to  its  own  forms  of  doctrine,  because 
all  doctrine  is  ultimately  dependent  for  its  value  on  the 
faith  it  seeks  to  expound,  and  as  faith  grows  doctrine 
must  develop  also.  At  the  same  time  it  will  have  a 
profound  respect  for  the  theology  of  the  past  because 
that  theology  was  the  expression  of  the  religious  faith 
of  those  times  from  which  our  own  faith  has  been  derived. 
Most  of  all,  it  will  seek  to  be  true  to  the  Christian  spirit 
by  keeping  in  sympathy  with  the  purpose  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  the  purpose  of  God  revealed  in  him,  for  therein  it 
finds  its  inspiration  and  its  support.  The  particular 
manner  in  which  it  will  go  to  work  to  reconstruct  the 
expression  of  the  eternal  realities  of  the  Christian  faith 
must  be  left  for  discussion  in  a  future  work. 


CHAPTER  VII 
WHAT,  THEN,  IS  CHRISTIANITY? 

The  reader  who  has  followed  sympathetically  the 
foregoing  exposition  of  the  various  systems  purporting 
to  be  the  true  interpretation  of  the  Christian  religion 
may  now  be  prepared  to  share  the  impressive  and  com- 
forting experience  of  the  writer  as  he  has  sought  to  under- 
stand the  great  forces  that  have  operated  in  the  making 
of  Christian  history.  It  is  fitting  that  we  should  now 
attempt  to  set  forth  some  of  the  convictions  which  have 
arisen  in  this  connection.  It  may  be  that  the  statements 
to  be  made  will  seem  but  commonplaces,  but  even  so,  they 
take  on  added  force  by  reason  of  our  survey  of  historic 
views  and  our  attempt  to  enter  as  fully  as  possible  into 
the  soul  of  each  of  them.  For  we  may  rest  assured  that 
none  of  these  types  of  Christian  thought  could  possibly 
have  won  the  devoted  allegiance  of  the  numberless 
multitudes  that  followed  them  had  they  not  contained 
elements  of  great  spiritual  power  in  all  instances. 

Our  answer  to  the  question  that  lies  at  the  head  of 
this  chapter  will  not  take  the  form  of  an  attempted 
definition  of  Christianity  in  a  single  formula,  nor  will 
it  be  just  one  more  attempt  to  reduce  our  religion  to  its 
ultimate  and  irreducible  essence.  It  will  aim,  rather, 
at  comprehensiveness  and  at  suggesting  lines  of  further 
development  of  the  successive  theses  here  to  be  offered. 
At  the  same  time  we  shall  proceed  on  the  whole  from 
the  more  general  to  the  more  specific. 

172 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity?  173 

1.  To  begin  with,  the  Christian  religion  coincides  in 
some   degree   with   all    these   historic   interpretations; 
it  includes  them  all  and  yet  at  the  same  time  it  cannot 
be  fully  identified  now  with  any  one  of  them  or  with 
all  of  them  united.     Let  us  suppose  for  a  moment  that 
by  some  great  cataclysm  all  those  forms  in  which  the 
Christian  religion  has  been  outwardly  set  forth  in  the 
past — the  spontaneous   words    and    acts   of  devotion, 
the  creeds  of  the  thinkers,  the  liturgies  of  public  worship, 
the  regular  customs,  the  moral  codes,  the  types  of  organi- 
zation, and  the  methods  of  work  popularly  accepted— 
were  suddenly  to  pass  away  today.     What  then  ?    The 
Christian  religion  would  be  with  us  none  the  less  tomor- 
row.    There  might  be  some  confusion  and  perplexity 
for  a  time,  but  that  great  power  which  we  are  habituated 
to  call  the  Spirit  of  Christ  would  remain  in  men's  hearts 
and  would  soon  begin  to  adjust  itself  to  the  new  con- 
ditions and  demands  that  must  arise.     Christianity  is 
nothing  if  it  be  not  ceaselessly  creative  of  the  new. 
Hence,  under  the  circumstances,  it  would  surely  begin 
at  once  to  forge  for  itself  new  forms  for  utterance,  as 
surely  as  active  children  will  discover   new  ways  for 
playing  with  one  another  if  there  be  no  person  to  teach 
them  the  old.     It  would  clothe  its  life  in  these  forms  and 
through  them  it  would  be  effectively  propagated  in  the 
world  again.     These  new  forms  would  probably  resemble 
some  of  those  that  had  passed  away,  but  they  would  be 
very  different  because  the  people  using  them  would  be 
very  different  from  the  Christians  of  the  past  in  respect 
both  to  inward  life  and  to  outer  conditions.     For,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  most  of  our  conventional  religious  forms 
have  come  down  to  us  from  a  time  when  they  meant 


174  What  Is  Christianity? 

something  very  different  to  those  who  used  them  from 
what  they  mean  to  us  who  use  them  now.  They  can 
be  prevented  from  having  a  benumbing  effect  on  our 
souls  only  by  continual  reinterpretations  of  them,  and 
these  reinterpretations  would  be  very  confusing  to  the 
first  users  of  these  forms  if  they  were  brought  suddenly 
face  to  face  with  them. 

Then,  too,  the  forms  that  would  arise  in  one  part  of 
the  world  and  in  one  grade  of  society  would  differ  from 
those  that  would  arise  in  another  part  of  the  world  and 
another  grade  of  society.  If  these  different  peoples 
began  to  mingle,  there  would  be  a  repetition  of  some 
familiar  past  experiences.  Conferences,  controversies, 
amalgamations,  reconciliations,  divisions,  and  excom- 
munications would  take  place,  and  yet  none  of  them 
would  take  the  same  course  as  was  taken  under  similar 
circumstances  in  the  past.  Perhaps  all  of  the  many 
sects  among  which  Christians  are  now  divided  would 
be  lost  sight  of,  but  new  sects  would  inevitably  arise. 
Of  course  no  such  thing  will  ever  happen  suddenly — 
though  it  is  happening  all  the  time,  but  gradually — and 
were  it  to  occur  we  should  be  both  worse  off  and  better 
off  than  we  are  now.  It  would  be  a  deliverance  from 
slavery  to  the  past.  Old  theological  and  ecclesiastical 
quarrels  with  their  intolerances  would  be  heard  no  more. 
Our  worship,  as  well  as  our  creed,  would  have  about  it  a 
sincerity  and  a  naturalness  most  refreshing  to  anyone 
who  is  aware  of  the  purely  artificial  character  of  much 
of  our  formal  worship  and  of  our  formal  reasonings. 
For  example,  there  would  be  no  bowings  before  the 
image  of  a  virgin  and  there  would  be  no  arguments  about 
miracles.     We  should  save  a  great  deal  of  time  that  is 


What,  Then ,  Is  Christianity?  175 

now  wasted  and  a  great  deal  of  bitterness  would  be  lost. 
For  a  while,  at  least,  we  should  experience  the  joyous 
elasticity  of  a  truly  religious  life  and  our  faith  would  be 
spread  abroad  with  something  of  the  ardor  and  speed 
of  its  earliest  achievements.  The  spirit  of  inquiry  would 
be  freed  from  the  benumbing  influence  of  ecclesiastical 
office,  always  jealous  of  its  authority,  and  would  make 
surer  progress.  Many  stumbling-blocks  in  the  way  of 
would-be  believers  would  disappear.  What  burdens 
would  be  lifted  from  our  souls! 

But  at  the  same  time  it  must  be  confessed  that  we 
should  be  worse  off  than  we  are  now  in  some  respects 
if  all  traditional  forms  of  the  regular  interpretation  of 
our  faith  were  suddenly  taken  away.  Some  kind  of 
external  expression  is  necessary  to  all  religion  if  men 
are  to  hold  it  firmly  or  share  it  with  their  fellow-men. 
A  faith  destitute  of  all  recognizable  outer  form  would 
probably  perish  with  the  death  of  the  man  whose  faith 
it  was.  A  recluse  might  hold  it,  but  it  would  not  become 
naturalized  in  the  world  of  men.  It  would  lack  historical 
continuity  and  would  suffer  abuse  through  the  whims 
and  vagaries  of  individuals.  If  we  dropped  all  tradi- 
tional religious  forms  we  should  need  new  forms,  and 
these  would  be  of  uncertain  meaning  and  value  to  other 
people  because  of  never  having  been  subjected  to  the 
tests  which  time  applies  to  everything  we  do.  It  is 
certain  that  there  would  be  much  wavering  and  uncer- 
tainty as  to  what  we  meant  until  long  experience  had 
given  some  settled  mode  of  expression  to  our  inner  life. 
We  might  enjoy  the  freshness  and  spontaneity  and  free- 
dom of  a  new  faith,  but  we  should  be  subjected  to  its 
temptations  and  dangers.     If  we  are  to  believe  the 


176  What  Is  Christianity? 

historians,  the  primitive  Christian  faith  that  shook  off 
so  many  burdens  of  the  past  was,  relative  to  the  extent 
of  territory  and  number  of  people  affected,  as  much 
troubled  by  uncertainty  and  confusion  as  to  its  real 
meaning  as  is  the  Christian  faith  of  this  restless  and 
confusing  time.  How  long  it  took  those  early  Christians 
to  find  a  thought-world  and  an  action-world  in  which 
they  as  believers  could  find  themselves  at  home!  The 
radical  who  tosses  overboard  with  impatience  all  the 
inherited  forms  by  which  Christianity  has  been  helped 
or  hindered  makes  a  bad  sailor  and  may  soon  be  ship- 
wrecked. 

We  can  see,  therefore,  that  past  interpretations  of 
Christianity  are  of  great  service  to  us,  though  they  do 
often  impose  unnatural  burdens  on  us,  though  they 
restrain  our  freedom  of  spirit,  and  though  they  cannot 
become  ours  fully,  but  must  be  changed.  The  liturgies, 
the  moral  regulations,  the  ecclesiastical  organizations, 
and  the  creeds  of  the  past  have  a  steadying  and  pre- 
servative value.  Were  it  not  for  them  we  may  well 
doubt  that  Christianity  as  a  persistent  and  definite 
force  in  the  lives  of  men  would  be  with  us  today.  Our 
duty,  therefore,  is  not  to  cast  them  rudely  away,  but  to 
use  them  as  stepping-stones  to  an  interpretation  more 
natural  to  us  and  more  adequate  to  our  needs.  They 
are  guides  and  also  points  of  departure  for  something 
better.  We  shall  exercise  our  right  to  set  them  aside 
as  we  gradually  grow  out  of  and  away  from  them,  just 
as  people  gradually  change  their  habits  of  dress  and 
social  customs  as  one  generation  gives  place  to  another. 
The  birch  tree  clothes  itself  with  new  bark  continually 
from  within  and  lives  on  healthily  when  the  old  falls 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity?  177 

away.  We  shall  reverently  and  carefully  push  our  in- 
herited religious  forms  to  the  periphery  of  our  actual 
world  and  clothe  our  minds  and  our  lives  with  something 
that  lies  nearer  to  our  hearts.  For  our  forms  of  worship, 
doctrine,  order,  and  conduct  are  not  truly  our  religion. 
They  are  the  outer  of  which  our  real  religion  is  the  inner. 

2.  By  this  means  we  obtain  a  method  of  dealing  with 
claims  that  certain  historic  forms  are  necessary  to  per- 
sonal salvation,  or,  to  say  the  same  thing  from  the  Chris- 
tian point  of  view,  that  without  them  we  cannot  be 
Christian.  For  the  sake  of  convenience  we  may  divide 
these  historic  forms  into  four  classes — liturgical,  eccle- 
siastical, social,  and  doctrinal.  These  relate  respectively 
to  the  spirit  of  worship,  the  spirit  of  evangelism,  the 
spirit  of  action,  and  the  spirit  of  truth,  all  of  which  are 
found  in  Christianity.  We  may  assert  that  all  these 
are  essential  to  the  Christian  religion  and  the  salvation 
that  it  brings.  That  is  to  say,  a  man  cannot  be  Chris- 
tian unless  he  worship  truly  the  Christian  God,  seek  to 
communicate  the  Christian  life  to  others,  practice  the 
Christian  morality,  and  hold  the  Christian  truth. 

But  while  these  claims  are  almost  universally  allowed 
among  Christians  they  have  only  a  vague  meaning  to 
most  people.  Something  more  concrete,  more  specific, 
is  wanted  when  people  ask  for  the  true  marks  of  the 
Christian.  Some  recognizable  act  of  worship  or  rever- 
ence, some  visible  order,  some  definite  prohibition  or 
command  to  be  obeyed,  some  formal  confession  of  belief, 
or  all  of  these  put  together,  are  made  the  prerequisite 
to  bearing  the  Christian  name.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
Christians  the  world  over  have  always  required  con- 
formity to  one  or  more  of  these  standards  before  they 


178  What  Is  Christianity? 

will  admit  anyone  to  the  rank  of  Christian.     How  far 
is  this  justifiable  ?    Are  such  standards  admissible  ? 

a)  Let  us  begin  with  liturgies.  Evidently  the  primi- 
tive Christians  after  a  time  made  but  little  use  of  them. 
It  is  doubtless  true  that  the  early  Jewish  believers  in 
the  messiahship  of  Jesus  adhered  in  a  general  way  to 
the  practice  of  observing  the  Jewish  times  for  prayer, 
followed  the  conventional  postures  in  public  worship, 
and  used  the  traditional  formulas  for  the  utterance  of 
religious  emotion.  It  may  be  that  for  a  time  they  were 
particularly  zealous  in  the  worship  of  God  in  the  way 
of  the  Fathers.  But  the  breach  with  the  Jews  who  dis- 
believed in  the  messiahship  of  Jesus  tended  to  cause 
these  things  to  fall  away.  On  the  other  hand,  both  the 
Jewish  and  the  Greek  religious  custom  of  baptizing  the 
catechumens  in  water  and  of  uniting  in  a  sacred  feast 
to  their  deities  gave  strength  to  the  Christian  practice 
of  baptizing  believers  with  the  pronunciation  of  the 
name  of  Jesus  over  them  and  their  feast  in  memory  of 
Jesus.  For  these  acts  set  forth  with  vividness  their 
sense  of  union  with  him  in  his  life's  purpose  and  his 
death  and  sealed  their  confidence  in  a  fuller  union  to 
come.  Would  any  man  be  accepted  as  a  Christian 
who  refused  to  participate  in  these  acts?  We  can 
answer  unhesitatingly,  No.  For  such  refusal  would  be 
tantamount  to  disowning  the  specific  marks  of  the 
Christian.  Such  a  man  would  be  regarded  as  separating 
himself  from  Christ,  and  inasmuch  as  the  deliverance 
which  Christ  would  bring  when  he  came  again  would 
be  only  for  those  who  bore  his  name,  the  man  would 
be  rejected  at  the  last  day.  It  is  just  what  we  should 
expect,  therefore,  if  we  find  these  liturgical  acts  presently 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity?  179 

viewed  by  Christians  everywhere  as  necessary  to  salva- 
tion for  everyone. 

Out  of  this  grew  the  entire  sacramental  system  of 
the  Catholic  church.  With  both  priests  and  people  the 
sacraments  became  the  divinely  prescribed  means  of 
receiving  the  saving  grace  of  God.  When  the  radical 
reformers  of  Protestantism  fought  against  this  substitu- 
tion of  an  outer  act  for  an  inward  state,  some  of  them 
went  so  far  as  to  repudiate  the  idea  that  any  definite 
outward  act  had  a  necessary  or  even  a  natural  place  in 
the  Christian  religion.  Others  sought  to  restore  the 
primitive  practice  without  attributing  any  necessary 
relation  between  these  forms  and  the  procurement  of 
salvation.  Yet,  while  theoretically  the  necessity  has 
been  increasingly  denied,  it  has  been  found  practically 
necessary,  if  the  Christian  community  is  to  live  on  in 
the  world— and  that  means  if  the  Christian  gospel  is  to 
save  the  world — that  these  early  liturgical  forms  be 
continued.  The  churches  that  have  eschewed  them 
have  not  been  markedly  successful  in  evangelism.  Are 
liturgical  forms  essential,  then,  for  each  man,  if  he  would 
be  saved  ?  An  enlightened  modern  Christianity  answers, 
Certainly  not,  for  that  would  be  heathenism.  Multi- 
tudes of  true  Christians  pay  little  or  no  attention  to  them 
without  perceivable  spiritual  loss.  Protestant  pulpits 
make  but  scanty  mention  of  them  in  these  days.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  would  seem  that  some  form  of  liturgy 
is  necessary  to  the  propagation  and  sustenance  of  the 
Christian  faith.  For  without  some  outer  form  of  expres- 
sion that  has  become  familiar  by  use  and  significant 
of  the  Christian  faith  the  Christian  spirit  would  be 
lacking  many  of  its  most  effective  modes  of  utterance 


180  What  Is  Christianity? 

and  would  measurably  fail  to  catch  the  imagination  or 
stir  the  fervor  of  multitudes.  From  the  practical  point 
of  view,  therefore,  some  kind  of  liturgy  is  necessary,  but 
there  is  no  form  that  is  permanently  necessary.  A 
liturgy  of  some  sort,  be  it  simple  or  elaborate,  is  indis- 
pensable, but  a  fixed  or  statutory  liturgy,  whether  simple 
or  complex,  is  a  detriment  to  the  Christian  spirit  and 
may  eventuate  in  heathenism. 

b)  If  we  consider  the  ecclesiastical  forms  that  have 
arisen  as  regularly  established  modes  of  Christian  activ- 
ity or  as  the  outcome  of  efforts  to  institutionalize  the 
Christian  faith,  a  similar  conclusion  is  reached.  Early 
Christians  constituted  a  fellowship.  They  met  regu- 
larly in  assembly.  They  recognized  one  another  as 
members  of  a  common  order  or  body.  They  were 
organized  for  mutual  encouragement  and  protection 
and  for  the  purpose  of  spreading  the  faith.  They  chose 
leaders  and  submitted  to  regular  guidance.  All  this 
was  natural,  inevitable,  and  necessary  if  they  were  to 
enjoy  a  continuous  existence  as  a  people.  Without  this 
continuance  their  gospel  would  fail  of  perpetuation  and 
amid  the  many  theories  claiming  divine  origin  believers 
would  fall  into  confusion  and  disappear  by  dispersion. 
So,  then,  it  was  perfectly  natural  that  membership  in 
the  Christian  community  should  be  made  a  condition 
of  sharing  in  the  benefits  of  the  new  spiritual  com- 
munion. It  only  required  time  and  favorable  circum- 
stances to  bring  about  the  well-known  transition  from 
this  natural  point  of  view  to  the  view  that  member- 
ship in  an  established  external  order  was  necessary 
in  order  to  participation  in  the  salvation  of  the  last 
great  day. 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity  ?  181 

In  all  ages  there  have  been  Christians  who  held  them- 
selves aloof  from  allegiance  to  any  institutionalized  form 
of  Christianity  whatsoever  and  without  apparent  loss — 
but  perhaps  real  gain — to  their  souls.  Yet  in  the  end 
most  people  will  fail  to  hold  steadfastly  to  their  faith 
without  some  such  support.  Some  form  of  church  has 
been  found  practically  necessary  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  Christian  faith — that  is,  to  the  salvation  of  the  world. 
But  this  is  a  very  different  thing  from  saying  that  any 
fixed  form  of  church  organization  or  order  is  necessary. 
Fixity  in  this  realm  is  as  dangerous  as  fixity  of  ritual. 
The  outcome  must  be  some  kind  of  hierarchical  despot- 
ism. All  the  great  church  systems  furnish  illustrations 
of  it. 

c)  When  we  come  to  forms  of  conduct  this  mode  of 
reasoning  may  seem  questionable.  Yet  the  principle 
is  not  different.  For  there  is  nothing  more  common  in 
the  world  than  "the  form  of  godliness  without  the 
power."  True  morality  is  in  the  inner  quality  of  soul. 
"Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom 
of  heaven."  "Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they 
shall  see  God."  Yet  it  is  quite  possible,  and  alas!  a  by 
no  means  infrequent  occurrence,  that  the  feeling  of 
humility  and  the  sense  of  purity  may  cloak  the  most 
heartless  arrogance  and  the  most  selfish  indulgence.  The 
external  conduct  must  be  there,  or  there  is  no  morality— 
so  say  men  the  world  over,  and  they  say  it  truly. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  one  asks,  What  in  particular 
are  the  forms  of  conduct  essential  to  the  Christian  life  ? 
it  is  startling  to  find  how  many  of  the  forms  of  one  day 
would  become  detrimental  to  a  true  morality  if  main- 
tained as  essential  for  a  later  day.     What  are  the  moral 


182  What  Is  Christianity? 

deeds  a  man  must  do  if  he  is  to  be  truly  Christian  ?  The 
day  must  declare  it.  Let  us  take  one  or  two  instances 
of  a  simple  kind  and  very  pertinent  to  our  discussion. 
It  was  said  to  them  of  old  time:  "If  a  man  shall  smite 
thee  on  the  one  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also." 
Such  a  mode  of  action  was  essential  to  the  successful 
living  of  the  Christian  life  at  a  time  when  their  faith  was 
under  the  ban  of  public  scorn  or  legal  prohibition.  Men 
won  their  way  and  preserved  the  Christian  salvation 
for  future  generations  by  bearing  violence  without 
attempting  to  bring  their  assailants  to  judgment.  Only 
by  so  enduring  could  the  higher  type  of  life  gain  recog- 
nition in  the  community.  To  fail  at  this  point  would 
be  to  renounce  Christ.  But  when  a  time  comes  when 
violence  offered  to  a  man  on  account  of  his  faith  is 
recognized  as  unjust,  and  when  the  Christian  allows 
his  assailant  at  all  times  to  go  unscathed  in  reputation 
and  unpunished  in  body,  he  may  be  doing  the  com- 
munity, the  assailant,  and  himself  a  great  wrong.  It 
is  well  that  all  men  be  allowed  to  live  their  lives  decently 
without  disturbance,  and  it  may  cost  much  less  sacrifice 
or  suffering  to  one's  self  to  let  a  miscreant  go  scot  free 
than  to  bring  him  to  justice  and  to  his  senses  and  thereby 
to  protect  decent  people  against  his  cruelty.  The  same 
line  of  remark  is  pertinent  to  the  saying,  "My  kingdom 
is  not  of  this  world,  else  would  my  servants  fight." 
When  Christians  are  placed  by  their  fellow-men  in  posi- 
tions of  great  responsibility  in  the  government  of  their 
country,  the  rule  of  conduct  suited  to  a  time  when  their 
most  effective  means  of  promoting  peace  was  by  throw- 
ing aside  all  the  weapons  of  war  must  give  way  to  a  truer 
embodiment,  for  a  later  time,  of  the  Christian  spirit. 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity?  183 

Morality  is  essential  and  abiding,  but  its  forms  inces- 
santly change  within  the  same  faith. 

d)  A  similar  result  is  obtained  from  a  study  of  the 
successive  doctrinal  forms  in  which  Christianity  has 
found  expression.  The  earliest  Christian  faith  may 
have  been  in  many  instances  an  instinctive  drawing  to 
an  attractive  personality,  an  affection  for  him,  a  feeling 
of  rest  and  security  in  his  presence,  a  confidence  in  his 
power  to  meet  one's  deepest  need,  without  any  clear 
analysis  of  what  is  meant  by  such  a  faith.  But  this 
was  more  than  the  unthinking,  dumb  loyalty  of  an  ani- 
mal. It  was  more  than  a  mere  feeling.  It  had  mean- 
ing because  it  was  the  movement  of  a  self-conscious 
spirit.  In  order  to  take  a  regular  place  in  a  man's 
life  and  affect  all  his  movements,  this  new  faith  must 
needs  be  defined,  it  must  receive  interpretation  by  and 
to  the  man's  thought.  Almost  from  the  very  beginning 
this  began  to  be  done.  Faith  in  Jesus  found  its  first 
intellectual  expression  in  the  confession,  Jesus  is  the 
Christ.  Without  raising  the  question  how  much  of 
truth  and  how  much  of  error  there  was  involved  in  the 
identification  of  Jesus  with  the  Jewish  Messiah,  we  can 
see  that  this  confession  placed  the  faith  in  him  in  line 
with  the  spiritual  growth  of  the  Jewish  people  and  with 
the  spiritual  longings  of  other  peoples  and  tended  to 
give  the  faith  a  clearness  and  a  stability  that  enabled 
it  to  battle  successfully  for  its  life  in  a  time  of  great 
danger.  The  demand  arose  naturally  that  everyone 
that  professed  to  be  a  disciple  of  his  should  make  this 
confession.  A  denial  of  it  would  bar  the  entrance  to  the 
new  community.  In  barring  him  from  the  community 
it  would  shut  him  off  from  many  of  the  sanctifying 


184  What  Is  Christianity? 

influences  which  flowed  out  from  that  community  to 
the  world.  To  that  extent  the  confession  was  necessary 
to  his  salvation.  Thus  the  gospel  of  Jesus  became  the 
gospel  of  the  Christ.  "Who  is  the  liar  but  he  that 
denieth  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ  ?"  It  was  an  easy  tran- 
sition from  the  view  that  he  who  denied  the  messiahship 
of  Jesus  should  be  kept  out  of  the  Christian  community 
to  the  practice  of  accepting  all  those  who  were  willing 
to  make  the  confession  as  true  participants  in  the  spir- 
itual benefits  of  the  Christian  communion.  A  similar 
thing  occurred  when  it  was  affirmed  that  Jesus  was  the 
Logos  of  God,  and  the  same  thing  again  when  he  was 
declared  to  be  the  second  person  in  the  Trinity.  In 
fact  this  has  been  the  history  of  the  making  and  enforce- 
ment of  the  creeds  of  Christendom  generally.  The 
acceptance  of  the  creed  is  viewed  as  necessary  to  Chris- 
tian salvation;  Christianity  and  creed  are  identified. 

Now  it  is  true  that  the  formation  of  a  creed  is  an 
inner  necessity  of  the  Christian  human  spirit  for  the 
simple  reason  that  it  is  the  faith  of  a  human  spirit,  and 
it  cannot  be  held  as  an  incentive  and  guide  to  a  human 
life  unless  it  be  conceived  in  intellectual  forms,  inasmuch 
as  a  life  that  is  lived  apart  from  these  is  less  than  human. 
If,  then,  we  take  the  term  salvation  in  a  comprehensive 
sense  as  embracing  the  whole  course  of  human  better- 
ment, a  creed  is  necessary  to  salvation.  Then,  if  we 
widen  our  view  so  as  to  take  in  the  fact  that  the  faith 
necessarily  creates  for  itself  a  community  in  which  it 
is  the  sustaining  force,  it  is  plain  that  this  community 
must  construe  for  itself  an  intelligible  conception  of  its 
faith  or  it  will  not  be  able  to  continue  as  a  conscious 
unity.     If  salvation  is  a  movement  toward  the  creation 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity?  185 

of  a  perfect  community,  then  a  creed  is  necessary  to 
salvation,  that  is,  to  such  a  salvation  as  the  Christian 
religion  brings  to  mankind  at  large. 

But  when  we  ask,  Which  of  the  many  historic  creeds 
is  necessary  to  our  salvation,  that  is,  to  the  better  life 
which  Christianity  brings  to  us  today  ?  the  answer  must 
be,  Not  one  of  them  in  the  exact  sense  in  which  it  was 
originally  meant.  Those  creeds  were  a  support  and  a 
strength  to  the  men  of  other  days  whose  needs  and 
powers  were  somewhat  differently  developed  from  ours, 
whose  aims,  we  may  be  permitted  to  affirm,  were  in 
some  respects  inferior  to  ours,  who  could  be  satisfied 
with  that  which  would  come  short  of  satisfying  us;  so 
that  even  when  we  seek  to  utilize  for  our  purposes  the 
language  of  those  creeds  we  are  obliged  to  put  a  some- 
what different  meaning  into  the  words.  Otherwise 
they  would  become  an  external  law  foisted  upon  a 
free  spirit,  limiting  its  normal  course,  preventing  its 
true  progress,  and  thereby  become  damning  in  their 
influence.  Creeds  are  necessary  to  salvation;  but  a 
stereotyped  creed?  Never.  Creeds,  moral  customs, 
churches,  liturgies,  belong  together.  The  same  kind 
of  necessity  that  calls  for  their  creation  calls  again  for 
their  transformation. 

3.  We  may  now  proceed  to  indicate,  in  the  briefest 
possible  manner,  the  lines  of  an  interpretation  of  the 
Christian  faith  as  it  lives  and  reigns  in  our  hearts  today. 
I  must  warn  the  reader  that  our  statements  will  be 
commonplace  in  form,  but  it  is  hoped  that  they  will  be 
found  to  carry  with  them  some  new  meaning  and  force 
as  a  result  of  preceding  discussions.  We  shall  proceed, 
as  before,  from  the  more  general  to  the  more  specific. 


186  What  Is  Christianity? 

a)  Our  first  affirmation  is:  Christianity  is  to  be  under- 
stood primarily  as  a  quality  of  spiritual  life.     We  are  not 
speaking  here  of  life  in  the  biological  sense,  that  is,  as 
the  principle  of  physical  animation  that  men  have  in 
common  with  lower  orders  of  existence;    but  we  are 
using  the  term  as  descriptive  of  the  action  of  a  mind, 
an  intelligence,  a  thinking  being,  a  being  that  is  self- 
conscious  in  all  of  the  many  modes  of  its  consciousness, 
whose  activities  are  free  because  they  are  primarily 
directed  from  within  itself  and  whose  feelings  are  such 
as  only  such  a  free   self-conscious   being  could  have. 
Such  a  being  has  its  life  in  the  realm  of  the  spiritual. 
Such  an  existence  is  spiritually  alive.     If  it  has  physical 
or  material  connections,  if  it  moves  also  in  the  realm 
of  material  things  which  other  beings  with  a  physical 
frame  move  in,  nevertheless   all  these  things  have  a 
peculiar   meaning   to   it   because   they   are   taken   up, 
understood,   and   used   as   if  they   belonged    to   itself. 
If  man  is  a  spiritual  being,  then  his  home  is  in  this 
realm.    Whatever  we  may  say  about  his  body,  whatever 
dependence  he  has  upon  a  material  environment,  what- 
ever  connection   of   necessity  may   exist   between   his 
physical  life  and  his  spirit,  his  true  life  still  remains 
spiritual.     You  only  know  the  man  when  you  find  that 
all  these  other  things  are  the  externals  of  his  life,  and  they 
have  no  importance  for  him  as  a  man  except  in  so  far 
as  he  can  take  them  up  into  the  movements  of  his  self- 
conscious  spirit,  in  so  far  as  he  can  think  them  and  use 
his  will  upon  them. 

When  we  say  that  Christianity  is  a  quality  of  spiritual 
life  we  mean  that  the  Christian  man  is  one  who  is  aware 
that  his  interests  are  finally  of  the  spiritual  kind.     These 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity?  187 

are  the  things  that  make  the  most  effective  appeal  to  his 
emotions,  that  most  powerfully  awaken  his  thoughts, 
and  that  call  forth  the  finest  exercise,  the  whole  exercise, 
of  his  will.  He  will  define  the  meaning  of  his  life  in 
spiritual  terms.  We  mean  to  say  also  that  spiritual  life 
among  men  is  of  many  grades  and  descriptions.  Its 
progress  varies  among  different  groups  of  people  and 
these  become  different  types  of  spirituality.  Each 
of  these  has  some  distinguishing  quality  that  runs 
through  its  whole  frame.  Christianity  is  the  name  of 
a  type  of  spirituality  that  gets  its  character  from  a 
peculiar  worthfulness  that  belongs  to  it.  What  that 
distinctive  quality  is  we  shall  try  to  state  more  fully  in 
a  moment. 

This  is,  of  course,  another  way  of  saying  that  a 
definition  of  Christianity  cannot  be  obtained  from  with- 
out. The  story  of  its  historical  origin  and  progress  is 
valuable  for  purposes  of  interpretation;  so  also  are  the 
monuments  to  its  character  which  time  has  set  up  or 
the  descriptions  which  men  have  offered  of  it.  But  the 
starting-point  as  well  as  the  essential  thing  in  the  inter- 
pretation is  an  understanding  of  what  is  meant  by  the 
actual  experience  of  the  spiritual.  For  this  interpre- 
tation the  whole  of  the  activities  of  our  human  spirit 
becomes  material  to  be  used.  That  is  to  say,  all  that 
pertains  to  the  processes  that  go  on  within  our  spirits 
must  be  taken  account  of.  When  the  Christian  thinker 
tries  to  expound  his  faith  he  must  make  use  of  the 
materials,  methods,  and  conclusions  of  the  spiritual 
sciences  at  their  best.  Psychology,  logic,  aesthetics, 
ethics,  metaphysics,  are  in  part  an  exposition  of  Chris- 
tianity.    In  every  one  of  these  and  the  other  sciences 


1 88  What  Is  Christianity? 

associated  with  them  there  is  a  record  of  the  movement 
of  the  human  spirit  in  its  effort  to  fulfil  itself  by  becom- 
ing master  of  the  world  of  action,  thought,  and  feeling 
that  belongs  to  it.  Each  one  of  these  indicates  the  line 
of  action  the  human  spirit  must  take  if  it  would  be  fully 
Christian.  Every  step  forward  made  by  these  sciences 
must  be  taken  account  of  in  our  interpretation  of 
Christianity,  if  Christianity  belongs  to  the  realm  of  the 
spiritual  life.  The  sensitiveness  of  Christian  thinkers  to 
all  the  developments  which  take  place  in  these  sciences 
is  perfectly  natural,  since  each  of  them  opens  up  more 
fully  the  spiritual  world  in  which  the  Christian  finds 
his  home.  For  surely  we  cannot  be  content  in  the  end 
to  claim  anything  less  than  that  in  the  Christian  religion 
the  free  activity  of  our  spirit  comes  to  its  highest  pinnacle 
of  attainment.  And  in  saying  this  for  the  spiritual 
sciences  we  have  prepared  the  way  to  say  the  same  of 
the  so-called  physical  sciences,  since  these  too  consti- 
tute the  methods  by  which  the  human  spirit  turns  the 
facts  of  the  physical  world  into  forces  of  the  spiritual 
order. 

In  all  this  we  seem  to  be  saying  that  Christianity  is 
a  natural  religion.  And  this  is  exactly  so,  if  the  natural 
be  set  over  against  the  unnatural — which  is  the  proper 
antithesis.  If  we  then  proceed  to  add  that  it  is  also 
supernatural,  this  is  not  to  be  taken  to  mean  that  it 
is  extra-natural  in  the  sense  that  something  which  per- 
tains to  a  different  world  or  sphere  of  being  from  that 
in  which  we  men  naturally  move  is  brought  to  us  when 
we  become  Christian.  For  the  spiritual  world  is  our 
human  world,  the  world  that  is  natural  to  us.  As  regards 
our  spirit  we  men  are  supernatural,  and  the  idea  of  the 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity?  189 

supernatural  gets  its  whole  content  from  our  inner  con- 
sciousness of  superiority  to  the  material  and  our  ability 
to  use  it  for  our  purposes.  The  supernatural  is  the 
higher  natural,  the  natural  come  to  its  true  purpose 
and  its  true  meaning.  If  in  the  so-called  Christianity 
there  is  found  something  that  contradicts  the  natural, 
this,  so  far  from  being  a  source  of  satisfaction  to  us  or 
a  confirmation  of  the  superiority  of  our  faith,  only  tends 
to  beget  doubts  of  its  value.  There  is  no  violence  done 
to  our  spirit  in  our  becoming  Christian,  nor  is  there  some 
other  nature  added  to  our  human  nature  in  some  inex- 
plicable way,  so  making  man  a  dual  being.  But  when 
the  human  spirit  is  naturally  unfolded,  when  its  life  is 
normally  developed,  it  becomes  Christian.  In  fact  that 
is  just  what  Christianity  is  for.  The  truly  spiritual 
man — he  is  the  Christian  man. 

Spiritual  life  is  not  merely  given  to  us;  it  is  gained. 
Men  attain  to  the  spiritual  gradually  and  by  great  effort. 
The  poet,  the  moral  man,  the  philosopher,  fulfils  the 
powers  of  his  genius  through  long-sustained  endeavor. 
The  first  of  these  works  indefatigably  to  make  the  uni- 
verse expressive  of  the  deep  harmony  and  unity  of  the 
human  spirit  in  the  realm  of  feeling;  the  second  seeks 
to  make  it  instrumental  to  the  fulfilment  of  the  potencies 
of  the  human  spirit  in  the  realm  of  will;  the  third  con- 
strues it  as  the  embodiment  of  those  concepts  which  in 
their  organic  unity  constitute  the  perfection  of  our  spirit 
in  the  realm  of  thought.  Progress  in  all  these  becomes 
ultimately  progress  in  Christianity.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  man  whose  aesthetic  nature,  or  whose  moral  action, 
or  whose  thinking  is  wanton  or  confused  or  hurtful  is 
for  this  very  reason  defectively  Christian.     The  whole 


190  What  Is  Christianity? 

round  of  our  spiritual  life  is  implicated  in  our  Christi- 
anity. When  I  say,  therefore,  that  Christianity  is  a 
quality  of  spiritual  life,  I  refer  to  the  wholeness  of  spirit 
it  has  in  it  for  men.  The  Christian  man  is  the  man  that 
is  whole  in  his  spirit. 

It  follows  that  any  purported  form  of  Christianity 
that  cramps  or  benumbs  the  emotional  nature  of  men 
by  crushing  its  native  feeling  or  by  opening  no  field  for 
its  normal  action  is  to  that  extent  unspiritual  and 
un-Christian.  Any  purported  form  of  Christianity  that 
erects  or  tolerates  a  barrier  to  the  free  movement  of  the 
human  spirit  in  its  thought,  or  that  offers  to  a  person 
some  act  or  symbol  or  sacrament  that  he  is  to  receive 
without  seeking  to  understand  the  why  or  the  wherefore 
of  it,  is  to  that  extent  unspiritual  and  un-Christian. 
And  any  purported  form  of  Christianity  that  seeks  to 
limit  the  normal  action  of  the  human  will  by  robbing 
it  of  its  initiative  or  freedom  or  by  setting  up  fixed 
external  standards  of  conformity  is  to  that  extent  un- 
spiritual and  un-Christian. 

Further,  it  follows  that  the  ideally  true  Christianity, 
the  Christianity  that  can  actually  be  the  religion  of  all 
men  and  bring  all  men  to  the  perfect  man,  lies  yet  in  the 
future.  It  does  not  follow  that  we  are  to  disparage  or 
forget  the  past.  It  is  to  be  kept  in  mind  and  cherished 
— not  as  that  to  which  we  are  to  return  but  as  our  point 
of  departure  for  the  better.  The  Christianity  of  any 
people  or  period  of  the  past  was  true  in  so  far  as  it  pre- 
pared men  to  transcend  it  and  themselves.  The  Chris- 
tianity of  the  past  is  still  true,  to  our  minds,  in  so  far 
as  it  assists  us  in  the  realization  of  the  potentialities 
of  our  faith  by  maintaining  continuity  of  movement 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity?  191 

and  by  supplying  the  impetus  to  life  that  comes  from 
contemplation  of  a  long  experience.  There  is  a  sense 
in  which  our  inherited  Christian  forms  become  norms 
for  the  future.  By  exhibiting  to  our  minds  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Christian  spirit  under  conditions  that 
have  partly  passed  away  and  partly  remain,  these  earlier 
forms  help  us  to  divine  the  direction  in  which  the  same 
spirit  of  faith  will  fulfil  itself  under  conditions  partly 
similar  to,  and  partly  different  from,  the  present.  They 
assist  the  prophetic  spirit  in  us  to  make  out  the  way  we 
ought  to  take.  Thus  they  become  true  only  in  so  far 
as  they  show  the  way  to  a  better  than  themselves.  We 
are  never  to  forget  that,  if  our  Christianity  is  to  make 
good  its  claim  to  be  the  truly  spiritual  religion,  it  can  do 
so  only  by  bringing  to  perfection  the  spirituality  that 
lives  in  men  now.  The  true  religion  is  that  which  can 
finally  be  the  religion  of  all  men  in  that  it  possesses  the 
power  to  bring  all  mankind  at  last  to  that  unity  of  life 
in  which  each  member  of  our  race  will  find  himself  ful- 
filled and  satisfied  in  every  other.  This  is  precisely 
what  our  Christianity  professes  to  be. 

b)  Christianity  is  a  distinctive  type  of  religion.  This 
is  not  a  mere  repetition  of  the  preceding  affirmation. 
For  we  may  speak  of  pure  spirituality  without  includ- 
ing religion.  One  may  say  that  in  the  perfection  of 
the  aesthetic,  the  moral,  and  the  intellectual  quality  of 
human  nature  we  have  perfect  spirituality.  But  this 
in  itself  is  not  religion.  Neither  is  the  unity  of  these 
several  qualities  religion.  For  religion  exists  when  the 
qualities  of  our  human  nature  are  held  together  in  a 
consciousness  of  relation  to  a  higher  being  than  our- 
selves.    Christianity  pertains  to  our  spiritual  life  as  a 


192  What  Is  Christianity? 

consciousness  of  relation  to  this  Higher  Beyond.  In 
this  regard  it  is  a  normal  activity  of  our  human  mind. 
Everywhere  men  feel  the  drawing  of  this  Beyond.  They 
feel  themselves  constrained  to  think  about  it,  to  do 
something  about  it,  and  their  hearts  are  often  suffused 
with  a  deep  feeling  of  happiness  about  it.  They  feel 
themselves  dependent  for  the  things  they  prize  upon 
this  Higher  Being  and  they  yield  themselves  in  devo- 
tion to  him.  They  vary  greatly  in  the  degree  to  which 
they  are  affected  in  this  manner,  for  there  are  degrees 
of  religiousness  among  men.  But  we  may  say  that  that 
man  is  the  most  truly  religious  who,  in  the  midst  of  the 
most  intense  activities  of  mind  and  heart  and  will,  in 
the  moment  when  they  are  all  concentrated  in  a  single 
aim,  is  the  most  fully  aware  that  he  is  subject  to  the 
action  of  a  Higher  than  himself.  This  Higher  Being 
may  be  conceived  in  thought  as  mightier,  or  more  en- 
during, or  more  intelligent,  or  better  than  himself,  or 
as  including  all  these  in  the  superlative  degree.  This 
is  God.  And  we  all  feel  his  pressure  upon  us  and  his 
attractiveness. 

Christianity  in  its  unity  is  one  of  the  many  different 
ways  in  which  men  exercise  this  consciousness  of  God. 
The  manner  in  which  the  whole  emotional,  intellectual, 
and  volitional  life  of  the  Christian  is  stamped  with  this 
God-consciousness  is  distinctive  and  belongs  to  no  other 
class  of  men.  It  is  like  to  all  other  religions  and  yet 
unlike  them  all.  Men  are  aware  of  God  in  all  religions. 
In  Christianity  they  are  aware  of  God  in  a  peculiar 
manner.  But,  inasmuch  as  it  does  have  kinship  with 
all  other  religions,  a  knowledge  of  these  other  faiths  is 
essential  to  a  satisfactory  knowledge  of  Christianity. 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity?  193 

If,  then,  we  believe,  as  we  truly  do,  that  our  religion 
is  destined  to  become  the  religion  of  all  mankind,  this 
must  be  understood  to  mean  that  the  transition  from 
any  other  faith  to  the  Christian  faith  is  not  purely 
revolutionary  or  an  act  of  mere  violence  to  the  earlier 
faith  of  the  convert.  His  conversion  is  just  what  is  to 
be  expected,  it  is  the  natural  thing  to  happen,  when 
the  two  are  brought  face  to  face.  This  is  another  way 
of  saying  that  Christianity,  my  Christianity,  has  within 
it  the  power  to  bring  all  men  eventually  into  a  single 
communion  of  faith  because  all  these  others  have  that 
in  them  which  may  be  regarded  as  Christianity  in  its 
beginnings  or  its  lower  stages.  Hence  we  must  say  that 
any  interpretation  of  Christianity  that  comes  short  of 
this,  or  that  makes  it  out  to  be  a  religion  that  seeks  to 
gather  out  of  the  world  only  a  portion  of  our  human 
family,  either  falsifies  the  character  of  the  Christian 
faith  or  declares  in  substance  that  it  is  a  temporary 
faith  destined  to  give  place  to  a  better.  Christianity 
is  committed  to  the  conquest  of  the  world.  Surely 
we  do  not  mean  anything  less  than  this  when  we  say 
that  the  Christian  God  is  the  only  God. 

c)  Christianity  is  the  religion  whose  whole  character 
is  determined  by  the  personality  of  Jesus  Christ.  Many 
religions  have  their  Christ,  though,  of  course,  he  is  not 
called  by  that  name.  The  most  distinguishing  mark  of 
Christianity  is  that  its  Christ  is  Jesus.  He  dominates 
the  history  of  Christianity  and  becomes  the  touchstone 
of  all  that  professes  to  be  Christian.  Now  the  chief 
tests  of  all  religions  are  their  conception  of  God  and 
their  conception  of  man.  When  the  Christian  affirms 
that  his  God  is  the  only  true  God,  he  not  only  means 


194  What  Is  Christianity? 

that  his  God  is  the  only  one  the  thought  of  whom  can 
satisfy  the  universal  longing  of  the  human  heart  for  the 
fellowship  of  the  perfect  life,  but  he  says  it  because  he 
has  found  in  the  contemplation  of  the  personality  of 
Jesus  Christ,  in  the  full  significance  of  that  personality 
as  he  now  sees  it,  the  assurance  that  in  him  lies  the 
realization  of  that  longing.  This  is  what  Christians  have 
always  found.  Christianity  is  Jesus  Christ's  gift  to  the 
world.  It  originated  through  his  advent  into  the  world 
of  men  and  it  is  constituted  and  maintained  by  the  per- 
petuation and  development  of  his  personal  character  in 
them.  It  is  his  life  in  men.  Christianity  exists  nowhere 
but  in  Christians.  They  are  Christianity.  It  is  as  in 
them  that  Christ  can  be  said  to  be  Christianity.  Thereby 
we  have  found  the  God  we  seek.  Through  him  God 
has  come  to  be  the  life  of  our  life.  We  finally  set  forth 
the  character  of  our  God  by  setting  forth  Jesus'  char- 
acter as  we  feel  it  and  see  it  now  after  the  passing  of  so 
many  centuries.  In  that  sense  he  is  Lord  and  God  to  us. 
But  our  description  of  the  Christian  is  also  given  in  terms 
of  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  the  true  man  of 
us,  the  man  we  all  would  be.  To  the  believer  God  and 
man  are  one  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Because  it  is  so  easy  to  use  such  words  as  these  in  a 
vague  and  senseless  way  we  must  go  a  little  farther  and 
ask,  What  is  the  meaning  of  the  presence  of  Jesus  Christ 
in  our  world?  The  answer  may  be  obtained  in  the 
popular  twofold  manner — it  is  discovered  in  the  meaning 
of  his  teachings  and  in  the  meaning  of  his  example. 
The  first  of  these  requires  much  more  than  a  summary 
of  his  teachings  and  an  explanation  of  what  they  meant 
to  his  mind  when  he  gave  them.     To  know  their  mean- 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity?  195 

ing  we  must  trace  out  their  influence  on  the  world  of 
men  from  the  first  to  the  present  and  mark  their  con- 
tribution to  the  solution  of  the  problems  of  our  lives. 
The  second  requires  that  we  go  far  beyond  an  attempt 
to  find  a  rule  of  conduct,  as  if  to  follow  his  example  were 
to  be  Christian.     We  must  find  how  the  knowledge  of 
his  career  has  affected  the  character  of    human  living. 
This  carries  us  on  to  an  estimate  of  the  worth  of  the 
fellowship  his  first  followers  enjoyed  with  him  and  trans- 
mitted  to   succeeding  generations.     In   short,   by   the 
meaning  of  the  impact  of  his  personality  upon  the  world 
we  refer  to  the  light  which  such  a  personality  as  he  was 
throws  on  the  character  and  purpose  of  all  living.     As 
I  have  already  remarked,  the  liturgies  and  organizations 
and  creeds  of  Christendom  were  the  outcome  in  past 
times  of  efforts  to  set  this  forth,  but  there  is  only  a  com- 
paratively small  modicum  of  his  influence  reflected  in 
these.     The  great  majority  of  Christians  for  the  greater 
part  of  their  lives  have  little  to  do  with  these  traditional 
forms.     After  all,  there  is  only  an  occasional  reference 
to  them,  for  most  of  us  are  so  busy  in  the  common  tasks 
of  life  that  there  is  little  time  or  opportunity  for  think- 
ing about  religious  forms.     The  power  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  mostly  felt  through  the  subtle  influence  of  the  lives 
of  Christians  about  us.     There  is  an  inner  movement 
of  our  spirits  toward  the  aim  of  life  that  comes  to  us 
through  association  with  them.     This,  in  truth,  is  what 
we  mean  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  men's  hearts.     And  this 
was  the  great  gift  of  Jesus  to  the  world  when  he  gave 
himself.     Christianity  is  no  mere  reproduction  of  his 
views   and  practices   under   altered   conditions.     It  is 
something  a  thousand  times  more  powerful.     It  is  the 


196  What  Is  Christianity? 

onward  urge  of  life  he  has  given  to  men;  it  is  the  self- 
commitment  of  men  to  the  highest  of  which  they  are 
capable;  it  is  the  devotion  of  men  to  their  fellow-men 
in  the  endeavor  to  come  into  perfect  unity  of  will  and 
thought  and  feeling  with  them.  Christianity  is  the 
religion  of  perfect  consecration  to  the  good  of  the  world 
of  men,  and  this  is  the  same  as  to  say  that  it  is  the 
religion  of  consecration  to  the  one  true  God.  And  in 
all  this  the  figure  of  Jesus  Christ  stands  before  the  eye 
of  the  Christian.  He  does  so,  however,  not  in  the  merely 
empirical  form  in  which  some  matter-of-fact  statement 
of  what  he  said  or  did  would  bring  him  before  us,  but 
through  the  empirical  facts  of  his  career  we  are  enabled 
to  discern  in  prophetic  vision  the  perfect,  eternal  per- 
sonality ever  beckoning  us  on  toward  himself  with  the 
longing  in  our  hearts  to  become  like  him.  And  we 
naturally  call  the  holy  figure  standing  at  the  end  of  the 
way  by  the  name  of  him  who  presented  it  to  our  sancti- 
fied imagination  when  he  gave  himself  to  the  world  in 
life  and  death — Jesus  Christ. 

The  particular  modes  by  which  we  shall  severally 
arrive  at  this  perfect  life  are  important  indeed,  but  they 
are  of  secondary  importance.  They  will  differ  from  one 
another  indefinitely  as  men  in  their  freedom  and  initia- 
tive select  or  create  for  themselves  the  symbols  and 
instruments  of  their  faith.  Wherefore,  since  we  must 
see  our  Christ  with  our  own  eyes,  we  must  all  make  our 
own  interpretation  of  the  Christian  faith  as  we  seek  to 
fulfil  the  meaning  of  life.  For  us  there  can  be  no  set 
rules  or  fixtures  for  faith,  for  Christianity  is  the  free 
realization,  by  the  self-conscious  spirit,  of  the  kind  of 
life  Jesus  Christ  brought  into  the  world. 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity?  197 

d)  Christianity  is  the  practice  of  the  most  perfect  human 
fellowship.  Long  ago  Schleiermacher  pointed  out  that 
religions  are  communion-forming.  This  is  pre-eminently 
true  of  the  Christian  religion  in  its  historical  course. 
The  ecclesiastical  maxim  of  Catholicism,  "  Without  the 
Church  is  no  salvation,"  has  not  been  treated  by  Prot- 
estants as  a  falsehood  pure  and  simple  but  as  a  per- 
version of  the  truth.  They  have  sought  to  preserve  the 
recognition  of  this  truth  through  a  distinction  between 
the  " visible  church"  and  the  "invisible  church."  Both 
parties  bear  testimony  to  the  common  conviction  that 
Christianity  in  its  very  self  brings  men  together  in  a 
spiritual  unity  and  that  where  this  does  not  exist  Chris- 
tianity cannot  be  found. 

This  is  not  to  be  understood  as  meaning  that  Chris- 
tianity brings  men  together  in  a  single  organization  as 
though  the  Christian  fellowship  had  to  be  identified  with 
an  institution.  For  the  complete  institutionalization 
of  a  religious  faith  becomes  destructive  of  the  freedom 
and  initiative  of  the  individual — which  is  not  to  save 
him  but  to  damn  him.  Under  such  circumstances  there 
can  be  no  real  fellowship,  but  only  a  reduction  of  fellow- 
ship to  the  level  of  mechanical  conformity  to  a  fixed 
rule.  True  fellowship  exists  only  where  individual  men 
in  all  their  distinctiveness  maintain  that  full  self-respect 
without  which  mutual  respect  must  disappear.  For 
this  reason  also  it  is  impossible  to  identify  the  Christian 
religion  with  the  religion  of  the  recluse  or  the  thorough- 
going mystic.  The  one  falls  into  the  egoism  that  utters 
itself  in  censoriousness  and  comtempt  of  others.  The 
other,  if  it  do  not  the  same,  falls  into  vagueness  and 
meaningless  self-obliteration  and  a  loss  of  interest  in 


198  What  Is  Christianity? 

other  men.  Christianity  is  the  religion  of  the  most  per- 
fect fellowship  because  it  magnifies  every  human  life 
and  enhances  the  worth  of  every  factor  that  goes  into 
the  exaltation  of  it.  Thus  it  teaches  men  to  bring  all 
the  good  things  of  the  world  into  their  service,  and  it 
makes  of  the  whole  order  of  things  a  regular  medium  of 
the  communion  of  men  with  one  another. 

A  word  or  two  must  be  said  about  the  practice  of  this 
fellowship.  It  is  built  up  by  a  reciprocal  activity  and 
receptivity.  It  is  best  expressed  in  those  words  of 
Jesus  which  set  forth  the  moral  unity  he  sought  with 
his  disciples:  " Whosoever  would  become  great  among 
you  all  shall  be  your  minister;  and  whosoever  would  be 
first  among  you  shall  be  servant  of  all.  For  the  Son  of 
Man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto  but  to  minister 
and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many."  Christian 
fellowship  does  not  consist  merely  in  an  emotional  unity 
or  intellectual  agreement,  but  it  is  fundamentally  con- 
stituted by  moral  action.  On  the  one  hand,  it  is  the 
effort  to  bestow  one's  self  with  all  one's  powers  upon 
others  and  to  find  in  their  willing  reception  of  the  gift 
the  satisfaction  of  one's  desires.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  the  willingness  to  become  receptive  to  the  efforts  of 
others  to  bestow  their  good  on  us.  Thus  everyone 
receives  and  everyone  gives.  None  is  exalted  to  supe- 
riority and  none  is  degraded  to  inferiority.  As  the  Chris- 
tian looks  upon  the  world  of  men  he  sees  in  every  man 
the  potentiality  to  become  possessed  of  all  the  good  that 
is  in  himself  and  he  also  sees  in  every  other  man  qualities 
by  participation  in  which  he  may  himself  be  enriched 
in  turn.  All  class  divisions  pass  away.  All  exclusive- 
ness  disappears.     Everyone  sees  his  own  best  self  in 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity?  199 

others  and  makes  himself  their  servant.  The  extension 
of  the  Christian  communion  in  the  world  is  co-extensive 
with  this  practice.  It  is  in  this  sense  we  are  to  under- 
stand the  prayer  of  Christ  that  all  his  disciples  might 
become  one  in  him. 

e)  Christianity  is  the  religion  which  is  one  and  the  same 
with  true  morality.  There  is  space  here  for  only  a  word 
or  two  on  this  great  theme.  The  truth  of  this  statement 
can  be  seen  even  in  that  attitude  of  mind  in  which  our 
relations  to  our  fellow-men  and  the  moral  obligations 
these  involve  seem  farthest  from  our  minds,  to  wit,  in 
the  attitude  of  Christian  worship.  Some  would  say 
that  in  the  act  of  worshiping  God  our  experience  is 
religious  and  not  moral,  since  in  that  holy  moment  we 
are  conscious,  not  of  our  relations  with  men,  but  of  our 
relations  with  God.  He  alone  is  said  to  be  in  mind. 
Men  are  excluded  from  the  worshiper's  thought.  And, 
again,  when  we  are  engaged  in  those  enterprises  in  which 
our  dealings  with  other  men  absorb  for  the  time  the 
whole  of  our  energies  and  we  are  seeking  to  conduct  these 
enterprises  with  due  regard  to  the  interests  and  rights 
of  other  men,  the  experience  is  ethical  and  not  religious, 
since  it  is  man  and  not  God  whose  relations  to  us 
are  in  mind.  The  attitude  is  anything  but  religious. 
It  is  about  as  far  as  we  can  imagine  anything  to  be 
from  the  spirit  of  worship.  However,  a  deeper  appre- 
hension of  both  these  attitudes  will  issue  in  a  different 
conclusion. 

Take  the  Christian  act  of  worship  first.  It  is  seen 
at  its  best  when  in  an  assembly  of  believers  the  heart 
of  the  worshiper  is  conscious  of  the  presence  and  power 
of  a  spirit  that  embraces  in  its  working  the  hearts  of  all 


200  What  Is  Christianity? 

who  are  present.  To  that  spirit  they  all  offer  them- 
selves. It  is  an  act  of  communion  with  God  which  is 
at  the  same  instant  communion  with  men.  The  prayer 
and  the  praise  are  common  to  all.  It  is  not  the  time 
or  place  for  private  petitions  or  thanks  for  private  favors. 
The  unseemliness  of  such  a  thing  would  be  instantly  felt. 
What  a  purification  of  motives  in  prayer  takes  place! 
For  each  feels  that  he  may  ask  on  behalf  of  himself 
nothing  that  he  may  not  request  on  behalf  of  all.  How 
readily  at  such  a  time  the  heart  is  led  to  embrace  in  its 
cry  to  God  the  needs  of  all  men  and  how  near  they  may 
come  to  him!  Through  the  personal  exaltation  that 
comes  to  the  worshiper  in  the  consciousness  of  his  unity 
with  God  they  too  are  exalted  in  his  mind;  and  their  lives 
take  on  an  ideal  character,  a  worth  that  can  be  described 
fittingly  in  no  other  terms  than  those  which  describe 
the  worth  of  God  to  the  heart  of  the  believer.  To  his 
mind  they  are  sanctified,  his  heart  goes  out  in  love  and 
devotion  to  them,  disharmonies  and  antagonisms  among 
the  worshipers  are  laid  aside,  and  all  become  absorbed 
in  the  single  aim  to  exalt  and  bless  one  another.  They 
go  from  that  assembly  with  a  deeper  realization  of  the 
meaning  of  the  life  they  are  living  in  common  and  with 
greater  strength  to  meet  one  another's  claim  for  good-will 
and  service  than  they  ever  had  before.  In  the  act  of 
worship  together  their  entire  lives  are  moralized. 

The  same  is  true  in  the  end  even  of  the  experience 
of  "private"  worship.  There  are  specific  needs  and 
longings  of  each  which  cannot  be  uttered  fittingly  in 
public.  In  order  to  utter  these  we  seek  to  be  alone  in 
our  devotion.  It  may  seem  that  here  especially  the 
world  of  men  is  excluded  from  our  minds  and  the  soul 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity?  201 

is  engaged  in  the  purest  worship  because  it  is  alone  with 
God.  But  this  is  a  very  defective  view  of  private  wor- 
ship. For  the  worship  of  prayer  and  praise  which  the 
man  offers  on  his  own  behalf  in  the  secret  chamber  can 
never  be  solely  for  himself.  He  is  guided  throughout 
by  the  consciousness  that  the  interpretation  of  his  needs 
flows  from  the  fact  that  there  are  illegitimate  as  well  as 
legitimate  petitions.  In  every  petition  he  is  constrained 
to  ask  for  those  things  alone  which  may  be  asked  in 
similar  circumstances  for  all  men  equally,  and  in  every 
utterance  of  praise  or  thanksgiving  he  really  gives  thanks 
only  for  those  things  which  may  be  no  exclusive  posses- 
sion of  his  but  the  possession  of  all.  Though  physically 
isolated,  he  is  far  from  being  alone.  Indeed,  one  of  the 
special  advantages  of  occasional  physical  isolation  in 
worship  lies  in  the  greater  facility  of  conceiving  the 
universal  character  of  his  wants  when  no  single  material 
figure  is  in  his  sight.  The  whole  world  is  ideally  present 
in  the  sublime  moments  of  his  personal  adoration,  and 
he  lifts  it  all  Godward  when  he  lifts  himself.  Thereby 
his  worship  partakes  of  the  highest  moral  quality  and 
therein  lies  its  value  for  the  Christian.  Our  time  and 
energies  are  not  to  be  divided  between  God  and  men. 
He  and  they  are  not  rivals  for  our  love  and  loyalty. 
And,  accordingly,  when  we  pass  out  from  the  place  of 
worship  to  the  common  drudgery  of  life  it  is  with  a 
profounder  sense  of  the  meaning  of  it  all  because  it 
has  been  bathed  with  the  consciousness  that  God  is  in 
it  all.  The  performance  of  the  common  task  becomes 
to  the  Christian  an  act  of  worship.  "Inasmuch  as 
ye  did  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it 
unto  me." 


202  What  Is  Christianity? 

f)  Christianity  is  the  religion  of  moral  redemption. 
It  is  not  without  reason  that  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus  has 
been  the  focal  point  of  interest  in  his  personality  and 
career  throughout  all  the  Christian  centuries.  It 
signalizes  the  fact  that  Christian  faith  expresses  itself 
in  the  man's  moral  struggle  and  eventuates  in  an  abso- 
lute devotion  to  an  idealized  humanity;  the  fact  that 
human  life  everywhere  has  a  deep  cleavage  running 
through  it  and  a  bitter  struggle  within  goes  on  unceas- 
ingly; the  fact  that  the  victory  for  those  who  are  being 
worsted  in  the  struggle  can  come  in  no  other  way  than 
by  the  vicarious  suffering  and  labor  of  those  who  occupy 
the  higher  plane  on  behalf  of  those  who  dwell  on  the 
lower.  Sin  and  salvation  are  ever  present  to  our  minds 
— not  as  formal  theological  terms  merely,  but  as  sig- 
nificant of  the  ineradicable  longing  to  escape  from  the 
worse  to  the  better.  Thus  the  figure  of  the  Savior 
dominates  the  horizon  of  the  Christian  life.  Repentance, 
forgiveness,  reconciliation,  atonement,  are  inseparably 
connected  in  the  Christian  experience. 

That  which  the  individual  experiences  for  himself 
becomes  indicative  of  what  must  come  to  all  mankind 
if  life  is  not  to  lose  its  meaning  and  value.  Hence,  to 
the  Christian  philosopher,  the  whole  story  of  humanity 
becomes  the  story  of  the  deliverance  of  men  from  the 
dominion  of  the  evil  and  entrance  into  the  kingdom 
of  good.  The  glory  of  Jesus  Christ  is  that  it  is  he  who  has 
bestowed  that  historical  redemption  on  mankind.  This 
it  is  that  has  made  him  Lord  of  our  hearts  and  King  of 
the  world.  He  has  imparted  to  men  the  redemptive 
power  that  lay  originally  in  himself  and  made  it  a  human 
possession  for  all  time.     "I  have  been  crucified  with 


What,  Then,  Is  Christianity?  203 

Christ;  and  it  is  no  longer  I  that  live,  but  Christ  liveth 
in  me.  And  that  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  I  live 
in  faith,  the  faith  which  is  in  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved 
me  and  gave  himself  up  for  me." 

g)  Finally,  Christianity  is  the  religion  of  perfect 
peace.  " Peace  I  leave  with  you;  my  peace  I  give  unto 
you,"  said  the  Redeemer.  He  is  represented  as  saying 
these  words  when  the  supreme  conflict  was  impending 
and  he  knew  it.  They  were  uttered  in  view  also  of  the 
struggles  into  which  his  followers  were  warned  that 
they  were  about  to  enter.  The  peace,  therefore,  which 
is  here  spoken  of  cannot  be  the  same  as  ease  or  freedom 
from  trial.  Christianity  does  not  deliver  men  from  the 
obligation  to  enter  into  the  conflicts  of  life.  It  does 
not  save  them  from  trial.  On  the  contrary,  it  impels 
them  to  take  upon  themselves  growing  burdens  and 
to  share  in  the  battle  of  life  on  an  ever-increasing  scale. 
What  it  does  in  this  regard  is  to  equip  men  with  the 
power  to  endure  the  trials  of  lite  and  discharge  its  respon- 
sibilities with  a  balanced  mind,  with  calmness  and  con- 
fidence, and  with  a  trust  in  God  that  nothing  in  the  way 
of  suffering  can  destroy.  The  Christian  spirit  adjusts 
itself  to  all  the  untoward  conditions  that  confront  it 
and  lives  in  freedom,  security,  and  strength. 

At  the  same  time  the  Christian  faces  the  material 
world  with  all  its  mysteries  and  tragedies,  without 
quailing  or  fear.  The  universe  has  ceased  to  be  evil  to 
him.  It  is  the  arena  in  which  he  finds  the  necessary 
field  for  the  action  of  a  redeemed  spirit.  It  is  the  instru- 
ment of  God  for  the  effectuation  of  his  saving  will.  He 
has  no  dread  of  the  discoveries  of  science  or  philoso- 
phy, but  eagerly  anticipates  them.     The  thought  of  the 


204  What  Is  Christianity? 

unknown  future  cannot  terrify  him.  "All  things  work 
together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God,  to  them  that 
are  the  called  according  to  his  purpose."  He  sees  the 
evil  world  passing  away  and  "the  city  which  hath  the 
foundations,  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God,"  coming 
down  from  heaven.     And  he  is  at  peace. 

These,  it  seems  to  me,  are  the  fundamental  char- 
acteristics of  the  Christian  religion.  The  order  in  which 
they  have  been  stated  above  is  not  intended  to  represent 
the  order  in  which  we  always  experience  its  meaning. 
The  order  differs,  if  there  be  order  at  all,  in  different 
persons  and  conditions.  But  these  are  its  permanent 
features,  and  all  further  interpretation  of  it  consists  in 
the  unfolding  of  these  according  to  the  varying  needs 
of  men. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  works,  arranged  according  to  the  respective 
chapters  of  this  book,  are  recommended: 

APOCALYPTICISM 

Burkitt,  Francis  C.    Jewish  and  Christian  Apocalypses.    London, 

1914. 
Case,  Shirley  J.     The  Millennial  Hope.    Chicago,  191 8. 
Charles,  Robert  H.     The  Apocrypha  and  Pseudepigrapha  of  the 

Old  Testament  in  English.     2  vols.    Oxford,  19 13. 
.    Eschatology,  Hebrew,  Jewish  and  Christian.    London, 

1913- 

.    Religious  Development  between  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 


ments.   New  York,  1914. 
Clarke,  John  C.  C.     The  Making  of  Christianity.    New  York,  1914. 
Mathews,  Shailer.     The  Messianic  Hope  in  the  New  Testament. 

Chicago,  1905. 
Oesterley,  William  O.  E.    The  Evolution  of  the  Messianic  Idea. 

London,  1908. 
Porter,  Fv  C.     The  Messages  of  the  Apocalypticists.    New  York, 

1909. 

CATHOLICISM 

Harnack,  Adolph.    History  of  Dogma,  translation,  I-VII.    Bos- 
ton, 1910. 

Hatch,  Edwin.    Influence  of  Greek  Ideas  and  Usages  upon  the 
Christian  Church.    London,  1890. 

Lea,  Henry  C.    History  of  Confessions  and  Indulgences.    3  vols. 
Philadelphia,  1896. 

.     History  of  Sacerdotal  Celibacy.     Boston,  1884. 

Rainey,  Robert.     The  Ancient  Catholic  Church.    New  York,  1902. 

Schaff,   Philip.     Creeds  of  Christendom.    Vols.    1   and   2.    New 
York,  1890. 

Taylor,  Henry  R.     The  Mediaeval  Mind.     2  vols.     New  York, 
1914. 

205 


206  What  Is  Christianity? 

MYSTICISM 

Buckham,  John  W.     Mysticism  and  Modem  Life.    New  York, 

IQI5- 
Inge,  William  R.     Christian  Mysticism.    New  York,  1899. 
Jones,  Rufus  M.     Studies  in  Mystical  Religion.     London,  1909. 
Tuckwell,  J.  H.     Religion  and  Reality.     London,  191 5. 
Underhill,    Evelyn.     Mysticism:    A    Study   of  the   Nature   and 

Development  of  Man 's  Spiritual  Consciousness .    London  ,1911. 
Vaughan,  Robert  A.    Hours  with  the  Mystics.     2  vols.    London, 

1879. 

PROTESTANTISM 

Calvin,  John.  Institutes  of  the  Christian  Religion,  translation  by 
Beveridge.     3  vols.     Edinburgh,  1845. 

Dorner,  I.  A.  History  of  Protestant  Theology,  translation  by 
Taylor.     Edinburgh,  187 1. 

Hastie,  William.  Theology  of  the  Reformed  Church.  Edinburgh, 
1904. 

Lindsay,  Thomas  M.  History  of  the  Reformation.  2  vols.  New 
York,  1907. 

McGiffert,  Arthur  C.  Protestant  Thought  before  Kant.  New 
York,  191 1. 

Wace,  Henry.  Luther,  First  Principles  of  the  Reformation,  trans- 
lation.    1883. 

RATIONALISM 

Benn,   Alfred  W.     The  History  of  English  Rationalism  in  the 

Nineteenth  Century.     2  vols.     New  York,  1906. 
Hagenbach,  K.  R.    German  Rationalism  in  Its  Rise,  Progress,  and 

Decline.     Edinburgh,  1865. 
Hoffding,  Harold.    History  of  Modern  Philosophy,  translation  by 

Meyer.     2  vols.     New  York,  1900. 
Lecky,  William  E.  H.     History  of  the  Rise  and  Influence  of 

the  Spirit  of  Rationalism  in  Europe.    London,  1866. 
Oman,   John.      The  Problem  of  Faith  and  Freedom.     London, 

1906. 
Stephen,  Leslie.    History  of  English  Thought  in  the  Eighteenth 

Century.    London,  1876. 


Bibliography  207 

EVANGELICISM 

Clarke,   William  N.    An  Outline  of  Christian   Theology.    New 

York,  1899. 
King,  Henry  C.     Reconstruction  in  Theology.     New  York,  1901. 
McGiffert,  Arthur  C.     The  Rise  of  Modern  Religious  Ideas.    New 

York,  191 5. 
Merz,  John  T.    A  History  of  European  Thought  in  the  Nineteenth 

Century.    4  vols.    London,  1907. 
Streeter,  B.  H.,  et  al.    Foundations.    New  York,  1913. 

WHAT,   THEN,   IS   CHRISTIANITY? 

Clarke,  William  N.     The  Ideal  of  Jesus.    New  York,  191 1. 
Fairbairn,   A.   M.     The  Philosophy  of  the  Christian  Religion. 

London,  1902. 
Pringle-Pattison,  Andrew  S.     The  Idea  of  God.     Gifford  Lectures, 

Aberdeen,  191 2-13. 
Royce,  Josiah.     The  Problem  of  Christianity.     2  vols.    New  York, 

1914. 
Sabatier,  Auguste.    Religions  of  Authority  and  the  Religion  of  the 

Spirit,  translation  by  Houghton.    New  York,  1904. 
Smith,  Gerald  B.    A  Guide  to  the  Study  of  the  Christian  Religion. 

Chicago,  191 7. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abelard,  52,  128 
"Absolute  sensation,"  64 
Absolute,  the,  64,  65 
Addison,  135 
Agnosticism,  67 
Alexandrian  philosophy,  29  f. 
Allegorism,  29,  30 
Anabaptists,  74,  85 
Anglicans,  114 
Anselm,  128 
Apocalypse  of  John,  28 
Apocalypticism  2-37,  140 
Apocrypha,  Jewish,  20-23 
Apologists,  159 
Aquinas,  Thomas,  74,  128 
Arius,  Arianism,  1 26 
Arminius,  Arminianism,  133,  148 
Atonement,  112 
Augsburg  Confession,  109 
Augustine,  51,  73,  100,  113 
Authority,  32  f.,  93,  99,  115,  120, 
132,  170 

Babylon,  14,  17,  18 
"Back  to  Christ,"  162 
Bacon,  Francis,  134  ff. 
Baptism,  92,  178 
Baptists,  74,  114 
Bernard's  hymn,  78  f. 
Boehme,  74 
Bonaventura,  74 
Butler,  Bishop,  134,  137 

Calvin,    Calvinism,    74,    89,    101, 

102,  148 
Captivity,  Jewish,  13  f.,  16 
Carey,  William,  149 


Cataclysm,  173 
Catechumenate,  178 
Catholicism,  38-59,  141 
Celibacy,  51  f. 
Charlemagne,  127 
Chastity,  51  f. 
Christian  perfection,  146 
Church:  Catholic,  38,  73;  Earlier 

or    Greek,    30  f.,    39,    45,    54; 

invisible,  113;    "notes"  of,  56; 

of   England,    148;    Western  or 

Roman,  30  f.,  39,  45 
Clergy,  49  f . 
Clugniac  revival,  92 
Colossians,  Epistle  to,  29 
Commerce,  modern,  152  f. 
Communion,  38,  84,  150,  161,  184 
Community  life,  165  ff.,  197 
Comparative  religion,  166,  192 
Confessions  of  faith  and  creeds, 

31,  183  ff.,  195 
Crusades,  94,  127 

Damiani,  Peter,  80 
Daniel,  Book  of,  20 
Day  of  Jahwe,  12  f. 
Deists,  Deism,  137  ff. 
Democracy,  95 
Descartes,  64,  134,  137 
Diet  of  Worms,  108 
Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  55 
Doctrine,  forms  of,  183  f. 
Dualism,  18,  23  f.,  46,  58,  121 
Dulia,  42 
Duns  Scotus,  John,  128 

Ecclesiasticism,  39,  59, 175-80, 197 
Ecstasy,  72 


212 


What  Is  Christianity? 


Education,  modern,  150  f. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  145 
End  of  the  world,  15,  19 
Enlightenment,  the,  138 
Ephesians,  Epistle  to,  29 
Essence  of  Christianity,  71 
Eucharist,  43,  178 
Evangelicism,  144-71 
Ezra,  20 

Faith,  171,  175 
Feudalism,  90 
Foreign  missions,  149 
Foreordination,  112 
Fox,  George,  74 
France,  92,  154  f. 

German  Empire,  mediaeval,  87 
Germany,  92 
Gnosticism,  29,  72 
God-consciousness,    75,    191  ff., 

200  f. 
Golden  Age,  9,12 
Graeco-Roman  world,  29,  70,  71  f., 

124 
Great  Britain,  148,  155 
Greek  philosophy  8,  15 
Greeks,  17  f.,  39 
Guyon,  Mme,  74 

Heaven,  15,  20,  23,  28,  30,  50,  58, 
78 

Hebrews,  Epistle  to,  29,  70 

Hegel,  Hegelianism,  134,  138 

Heidelberg:  Catechism,  97;  Con- 
fession, 99 

Hildebrand,  74 

Howard,  John,  146 

Hugo  Grotius,  133 

Hugo  de  St.  Victor,  74 

Hume,  David,  134 

Hussites,  95,  96 

Hymnody,  Christian,  148 


Hymns  quoted,  44,  75,  79,  135 
Hyperdulia,  42 

Ignatius  of  Antioch,  39 
Individualism,  107,  154,  157  ff. 
Industry,  modern,  152  ff. 
Inspiration,  21,  33,  68 
Inventions,  modern,  152  ff. 
Irenaeus  of  Lyons,  39 
Isaiah,  20 

Jahwe:  11  ff.,  17  f.,  21;  spirit  of, 
20 

Jeremiah,  20 

Jesus  Christ:  1  f.,  22-28,  31  f.,  36, 
48  f.,  52,  56,  69,  71  f.,  76,  79,  81, 
89,  92,  97,  100  f.;  deity  of,  57; 
heavenly,  82;  kingdom  of,  89; 
judge  of  men,  43,  93;  nature  of, 
3,  44  f.,  in,  164,  194;  person- 
ality of,  124,  169,  193  f.;  second 
coming  of,  25,  31;  sufferings  of, 
44,49 

John:  Gospel  of,  24,  28  f.; 
writings,  70 

Judaism,  4  ff.,  123 

Judgment  Day,  12  f.,  22,  32,  35  f., 
56,93 

Justification,  in  ff. 

Kant,  134,  139 

Lardner,  159 
Latvia,  42 
Lessing,  139 
Liturgies,  178  ff. 
Locke,  John,  134  ff. 
Logos,  125  *-,  184 
Lollards,  95 
Luke,  Gospel  of,  27 
Luther,  74,  88,  93,  108,  119 

Mark,  Gospel  of,  3,  27 
Martyrs,  48  f. 

Mary,  Virgin:  21,42  £.,45,  52,93; 
worship  of,  174 


Index 


213 


Mass,  the,  43 
Material  world,  167 
Matthew,  Gospel  of,  24,  26 
Messiah,  Messianism,  5, 12, 16, 17, 

19,  22,  25,  27,  183  f. 
Methodists,  148 
Millenarianism,  32 
Miracles,  19,  59,  119,  122  f.,  125, 

i74 
Modernists,  74,  129 
Monks,    Monasticism,    49  f.,    50, 

55,  92,  94 
Montanism,  72 

Morality,  49,  181  ff.,  189,  199  f. 
Moravians,  74 
"Mysteries,"  39,  61  f.,  72  f. 
Mystery,  70,  168 
Mystics,   mysticism,   60-86,    120, 

147 
Mythology,  6-10,  24  f.,  68 

Napoleon,  155 

Nationalism,  16,  22,  95 

Natural  world,  167 

Neale,  J.  M.,  78 

Neo-Platonism,  73  f. 

New  Testament,  23,  25,  26,  28  ff., 

69,  7i,  73 
Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  135 
Nicene  Creed,  31,  11 1;    see  also 

Creeds 
Nonconformists,  148 
Nuns,  52 

Obedience,  53,  55 
Original  sin,  51 

Paganism,  48 

Palestine,  7,  12 

Paradise,  15 

Paul,  Paulinism,  24  f.,  29,  70,  113, 

124 
Peace  of  Westphalia,  89,  144 


Pelagius,  Pelagianism,  126  f. 

Penitential  system,  94 

Persecution,  104,  131 

Persia,  14,  17  f. 

Personal  ideal,  160 

Personality:    its  worth,  166,  168; 

its  sphere,  167;    its  fulfilment, 

158,  170,  194  f. 
Peter's   confession,   3  ff.,    10,    22, 

183;  see  also  Confessions 
Philosophy,  57  ff.,  189;  of  religion, 

67,  76 
Plato,  Platonism,  64,  73 
Plotinus,  73 
Pope,  the,  54,  56,  88 
Porphyry,  73 
Poverty,  50  f . 
Prayer,  199  ff. 

Predestination,  147,  101,  105 
Presbyterianism,  148 
Press,  modern,  150  f. 
Primitive  Christianity,  176,  180 
Primitive  culture,  6-8 
Prophets,  11  ff.,  21 
Protestantism,  87-113,  142 
Psychology  of  religion,  164  f. 
Puritanism,  146 

Quakers,  74,  85 
Queen  Elizabeth,  104 
Queen  Mary,  104 

Rationalism,  114-43 
Redemption,    59,    73,    77,     111, 

182  ff.,  202  f. 
Relation  of  theology  to  science, 

187  ff. 
Religion,  84,  151,  177,  191  f. 
Religious   communion,    193,    198, 

200 
Religious  experience,  187  f.,  202 
Religious  forms,  2,  160,  177  ff. 
Renaissance,  96 
Renunciation,  47  ff.,  81,  106,  169 


2  14 


What  Is  Christianity? 


Resurrection,  19,  31  f. 
Revelation,  19  ft*.,  59,  118,  122  f., 

125, 130 
Revivals,  145  f.,  149 
Revolutions,  political,  154  f. 
Richard  de  St.  Victor,  74 
Ritual,  55,  83  f.,  in,  148 
Roman  Empire,  29,  84,  95 
Russia,  155 

Sacraments,  52,  55,  82,  93,  98, 119, 

140,  179,  190 
St.  Bernard,  74,  76,  78 
St.  Francis,  74 
"Saints,"  165 
Salvation,  167 
Schleiermacher,  165,  197 
Scholasticism,  128 
Science,  modern,  156  f. 
Scripture,  canon  of,  21 
Sects,  174 
Sheol,  15,  18 
Skepticism,  144 
Smith,  Adam,  153 
Socinus,  Socinians,  132  f. 
Socrates,  64,  66 
Son  of  Man,  28 
Spinoza,  137  f. 
Spirit,  Holy:    72,  195;    testimony 

of,  94,  132,  147 
Spiritual  life,  180  f. 
Subliminal  self,  80 


Substance,  138 

Supernatural,    the,    19,    59,    119, 

188  f. 
Supreme  Being,  1,  58,  121 
Swedenborg,  74 
Swiss,  the,  95 
Symbolism,  82 

Tertullian,  118 

Theology,  natural  and  supernatu- 
ral, 135 

Trinity,  the,  42,  45,  73,  in,  132, 
184 

Underhill,  Evelyn,  81 

United  States,  154  f- 

Unity:     of    mankind,     150;      of 

nature,  150 
Universality,  150 

Waldenses,  92 

"Wealth  of  Nations,"  153 

Wesley,  Charles,  148 

Wesley,  John,  and  Wesleyans, 
74,  85,  146,  152 

Western  Church,  31,  40,  45,  54, 
73  f- 

Westminster:  Confession  of  Faith, 
89,  102;   Shorter  Catechism,  98 

Whitefield,  85,  148,  152 

Worship,  41  ff. 

Wycliffe  and  Wycliffian  Reforma- 
tion, 95  f. 


Date  Due 

9tef$WPfft 

<f> 

Illllliiiiiiuin 


Theological  Semmary-Speer  library 


1     1 


012  01016  1620 


